Every minute 7 million pounds of excrement are produced by animals raised for food in the US. Where does this excrement go you might ask? Some of it ends up polluting our rivers, streams and underground drinking water supplies.
A new analysis released last week by Environment America shows that meat giant Tyson released 104 million pounds of pollution into American waterways in 4 years, more than companies like Exxon and Dow Chemical.
Corporate agribusiness is emerging as one of the biggest threats to America’s waterways – contributing to dead zones from the Chesapeake Bay to the Gulf of Mexico and even threatening our drinking water. Tyson Foods Inc. and its subsidiaries dumped 104 million pounds of pollutants into waterways from 2010 to 2014 – the second highest volume of toxic discharges reported to [U.S. EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory ]for those years.A substantial portion of Tyson’s discharges are nitrate compounds. Nitrates can contribute to algal blooms and dead zones, and also pose threats to human health, including “blue baby syndrome” for infants.
Of the top 15 biggest polluters analyzed in the report, three additional meat companies also made the list; Cargill, Pilgrim's, and Perdue.
We can all do our part to help put companies like these out of business and to keep our waterways clean by leaving animals off our plates.
Check out our free 30-day Vegan Challenge and get started today!