Ammonia air pollution hot spots found in parts of UK with most factory farms

Areas with the largest scale intensive farms in the UK are hotspots of ammonia air pollution, new research suggests.

Air pollution from manure spread on fields is worst in Norfolk, Lincolnshire and Herefordshire, which have the largest scale intensive farms, according to a new map published as part of a report by Compassion in World Farming and Sustain.

According to the report titled, ammonia produced in industrial chicken and pig farming; It is linked to conditions such as heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, type 2 diabetes and dementia. Ammonia Pollution Problem.

When the slurry is spread on fields, the ammonia reacts with other pollutants to form fine particulate matter, one of the most dangerous forms of air pollution, the report says. While people closest to factory farms face higher exposure, it can also reach towns and cities.

Ministers are rewriting planning rules to make it easier to set up intensive livestock farms despite local opposition. Guardafter lobbying by poultry industry chiefs. Factory farming has already expanded in the last decade.

The report states that agriculture is responsible for 89 percent of emissions in the UK.

Ammonia is used to make fertilizer but is released into the atmosphere at levels far beyond what these ecosystems can absorb, the report’s authors say. Microscopic particles also penetrate the lungs and bloodstream.

Artist Kate Milsom, 57, said she had to move twice to her home in the Wye Valley on the England-Wales border because ammonia from nearby chicken farms was devastating.

He says the condition causes his eyes to sting and water, which stops him working and affects his eating and sleeping, and the struggle with expanding farms affects his mental health.

“Even on a nice day, I couldn’t let the doors and windows open anymore,” he said.

“I have become increasingly concerned about my health and the impact of airborne particles. The smell of ammonia is very unpleasant. You might think you would get used to it, but it is not the smell.”

The application for two more poultry units in the area, near ancient woodlands said to be sensitive to ammonia concentrations, would mean raising an additional 500,000 chickens there each year.

Michele Franks, who lives near two chicken farms in Lincolnshire, said: “The smell is terrible, especially if the wind is blowing towards my house.

“I suffer from asthma and when the chicken coops are cleaned I notice that it affects my breathing and my chest feels tight.

“I always have to make sure all my windows are closed, I can’t hang my washing and I can’t go out into the garden. It’s really annoying and lasts about five days.”

“Manure spraying is a real problem around here. We’re surrounded by crops sprayed with chicken manure and the smell is truly awful. It hurts my eyes and makes me breathless.”

“The smell is so offensive that I stopped eating meat and became a pescatarian in 2016.”

Plans to build a further 12 chicken coops to house more than half a million birds will place his home between two industrial units; residents called it a “health disaster waiting to happen.”

The report cites scientific studies linking particulate matter exposure to stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, type 2 diabetes, respiratory disease and dementia. It contributed to an estimated 15,470 deaths in 2010, the authors note.

Television doctor Amir Khan said: “As a GP, I see first-hand the impact of air pollution on people’s health, with ammonia from intensive farming also being a significant but often overlooked part of this problem.

“Fine particulate matter from ammonia exposure causes heart disease, stroke, asthma and chronic lung conditions, and our most vulnerable patients are paying the price.”

He said reducing farm emissions is an urgent public health priority.

Compassion in World Farming (Ciwf) says excess nitrogen from ammonia also degrades forests, grasslands, wetlands and freshwater habitats, fuels algal blooms and increases the risk of disease in livestock.

In air tests in Leicester, Birmingham and London, 79 per cent of areas exceeded World Health Organization guidelines for particulate matter.

Ciwf UK chief executive Anthony Field said: “By cramming large numbers of animals into confined spaces and relying heavily on fertilisers, these intensive systems release far more ammonia than the environment or our bodies can cope with.

“The result is a range of harms to animals living in these conditions, to humans breathing polluted air, and to ecosystems absorbing excess nitrogen.”

Sustain’s Ruth Westcott said: “We have a shocking shortage of homegrown vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans and legumes. “This should be the government’s priority, not giving more power to industrial food production.”

A government spokesman said: “We are committed to improving air quality to benefit public health, the environment and the economy, while maintaining the highest standards of farm animal welfare.

“We are working closely across government to deliver planning reforms that both improve outcomes for nature and enable farmers to build the infrastructure they need.”