Environmental injustice and the Mississippi hog industry.

Abstract

Environmental JusticeThe recent growth and restructuring of the swine industry in the state of Mississippi has raised various environmental and socioeconomic concerns. We spatially examined the location and attributes of 67 industrial hog operations to determine if African American and low-income communities have a high prevalence of industrial hog operations located near their neighborhoods at the census block group level. We used spatial data and cross-classification analysis to compare the prevalence of industrial hog operations in neighborhoods that are primarily African American and low income with the prevalence in neighborhoods that are African American and affluent. We also used logistic regression to evaluate the relationship between the environmental justice vari-

The potential impact of flooding on confined animal feeding operations in eastern North Carolina.

“…In some of these areas, including Mississippi (19), environmental contamination may also occur in African-American and low-income communities where surveillance of environmental health is compromised by poverty and lack of access to medical care. Evidence from eastern North Carolina raises questions about the regulatory classification of CAFOs as nondischarge facilities.…”

“…In 1996, 22 fecal waste pits were reported to have been ruptured or inundated following flooding from Hurricane Fran, and one major spill was reported following Hurricane Bonnie in 1998 (5). However, the logic of the nondischarge classification was questioned on a large scale in 1999 when Hurricane Floyd dumped as much as [15][16][17][18][19][20] …”

Water and Environmental Justice

“…Aft er partnering for a study with professors at the University of North Carolina, the citizens' group found that areas with lower incomes and more African American residents had the highest numbers of hog farms (Wing, Cole, and Grant 2000 ). Subsequent studies found similar conditions in the Mississippi hog industry (Wilson et al 2002 ).…”

The Public Health Impacts of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations on Local Communities

“…The disproportionate siting of CAFOs proximate to nonwhite, highpoverty communities may further exacerbate the disease burden already faced by these vulnerable populations. 43 In 1997, Thu and colleagues conducted a study of a community situated close to a pig CAFO. The authors noted that "neighbors of the large-scale swine operation .…”