Our good friend and frequent contributor David Kirby, author of Evidence of Harm  is also the author of a new book titled, Animal Factory: The Looming Threat of Industrial Pig, Dairy and Poultry Farms to Humans and the Environment, that looks at the impact of the factory farm on our lives. You can pre-order Animal Factory at Amazon now Click HERE. It debuts on February 16th of 2010. 

On Saturday, the New York Times ran an article about the fallout from a dairy farm in Wisconsin. You can read the full article HERE.

MORRISON, Wis. — All it took was an early thaw for the drinking water here to become unsafe. 

There are 41,000 dairy cows in Brown County, which includes Morrison, and they produce more than 260 million gallons of manure each year, much of which is spread on nearby grain fields. Other farmers receive fees to cover their land with slaughterhouse waste and treated sewage.

In measured amounts, that waste acts as fertilizer. But if the amounts are excessive, bacteria and chemicals can flow into the ground and contaminate residents’ tap water.

In Morrison, more than 100 wells were polluted by agricultural runoff within a few months, according to local officials. As parasites and bacteria seeped into drinking water, residents suffered from chronic diarrhea, stomach illnesses and severe ear infections...