HOG FARMS CAUSE ASTHMA

"A newly published University of Iowa study suggests that parents living on hog farms should protect their children from asthma by limiting exposure to dust from hog operations. James Merchant, dean of the U of I's College of Public Health, said the study published in the online Environmental Health Perspectives this week showed that children living on hog farms had a higher prevalence of asthma than did those living on farms with no hogs." Specifically, the study found indicators of asthma in 46 percent of those living on hog farms with more than 500 pigs, and even higher - 55.8 percent - for those on farms that added antibiotics to feed. This is compared to non-hog-farm asthma prevalence of 33.6 percent. "Many studies have shown rural children to have lower numbers of asthma cases than their city counterparts, Merchant said. This is a significant study showing the opposite to be true in the case of children living on hog farms, he added. The study controlled for other factors that might cause asthma."