Toxic Truths: The Human Cost of Factory Farming
Factory farming is built for maximum output at minimal costs. This structure causes immense damage each year, polluting rivers, driving deforestation and fuelling climate breakdown.
But the damage doesn’t stop there. Across the world, people who live and work near industrial animal farms are forced to breathe toxic air. Invisible gases released from huge amounts of animal waste are damaging their lungs, sickening whole communities, and, in some cases, taking lives.
Toxic by Design
Industrial animal farming produces unimaginable levels of manure and urine waste product – up to 33,450 tonnes every single day on UK pig and chicken farms alone. This waste is stored in pits, tanks and lagoons, where it breaks down without oxygen and releases gases such as ammonia, methane and hydrogen sulphide.
Hydrogen sulphide is particularly lethal. Even at low levels it irritates the eyes and lungs. At high concentrations it can cause rapid unconsciousness and death. “If the concentration is high enough,” explains toxic-gas expert Dr John Mullen, “then someone who is in that environment, with a few breaths,... can succumb to the effects of hydrogen sulphide”.
Ammonia is another major pollutant. When released, it reacts in the atmosphere to form fine particles that damage the lungs and heart. These emissions are linked to increased rates of asthma and chronic respiratory illness in nearby communities.
In the UK, livestock farming is the largest single source of ammonia emissions, responsible for around 76.9% of national totals, contributing to harmful air pollution across both rural and urban areas.
These gases mix with other pollutants and drift far beyond farm boundaries, forming toxic clouds over rural landscapes.
Lives Lost
In August 2025, the deadly consequences of this system became tragically clear. Six farmworkers were killed at Prospect Valley Dairy in Keenesburg, Colorado, after a suspected release of hydrogen sulphide from an underground manure pit.
“This isn’t an isolated event,” said Christine Ball-Blakely of the Animal Legal Defense Fund. “We see workers dying constantly on factory farms from exposure to hydrogen sulphide. I’ve seen stories where workers lean over a lagoon to do maintenance and just succumb to the emissions.”
Each of these deaths leaves behind a grieving family and community - victims of an industry that sacrifices both the environment and people for profit.
How Banks Are Linked to the Problem
The current scale and future growth of factory farming depends on finance. Major banks continue to provide enormous amounts of loans that allow industrial livestock corporations to build bigger barns, store more animals, and expand waste lagoons that emit toxic gases.
This pattern exists globally, despite its enormous toll on the environment and human health.
However, whilst many banks are driving this outcome, they also have the power to change it. By shifting investment away from industrial animal agriculture and towards nature-positive food systems - such as plant-based food production and other alternative proteins - they can help protect people, animals and ecosystems alike.
How You Can Help
Every bank account, savings plan or investment is a choice - and together, those choices shape the world we live in.
With Bank for Nature, you can check whether your bank funds factory farming and use the platform to send your bank a clear message: stop financing factory farming, and start supporting nature-friendly solutions.
It takes only a few minutes to act, but the impact can be lasting. By choosing where your money is held, you can help cut the flow of finance to one of the world’s most destructive industries - protecting workers, communities and the billions of animals who suffer within it.