America’s water supply is under attack – not from foreign adversaries or crumbling infrastructure, but the giant factory farms that churn out billions of pounds of cheap meat for profit-obsessed firms.
A watchdog warns that producers including Tyson Foods, JBS, Smithfield Foods are behind scary levels of nitrate pollution contaminating rivers, aquifers and reservoirs that supply drinking water to millions of homes.
Food & Water Watch, a research and advocacy group, says excessive nitrates in drinking water have been linked to cancers, miscarriages, birth defects and a rare but dangerous condition known as ‘blue baby syndrome.’
Nitrates seep into rural wells and municipal systems alike. Yet federal and state officials are accused of turning a blind eye as corporate executives line their pockets while stocking supermarkets with budget burgers and sausages.
Tyson CEO Donnie King rakes in $23 million a year, reports show. Smithfield’s boss Shane Smith earns $15 million, while JBS’s Wesley Batista Filho presides over a personal fortune estimated at $4.9 billion.
One epicenter of the crisis is currently Des Moines, where the Central Iowa Water Works says its output is safe to drink – despite locals posting at-home nitrate test results on social media that suggest otherwise.
Residents of Iowa, Washington, Oregon, Minnesota and Wisconsin have petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to enforce safe drinking water standards. Their filings point to a range of farming practices as the problem.
But Tyler Lobdell, a lawyer at Food & Water Watch and co-author of a report into Big Ag’s role in the crisis, told the Daily Mail that the problem went far beyond those five states.
Outdoorsy Iowa influencer Joy Van Wyngarden says her neighbors shouldn’t drink the nitrates
Nitrates in water can lead to a scary condition known as ‘blue baby syndrome’
The Idaho-based father-of-two described the situation as an ‘emerging crisis, decades in the making, that doesn’t get the attention it deserves.’
‘We know the culprits and some of the remedies but we’re battling a lack of political will to regulate the industry,’ Lobdell said.
The Daily Mail contacted Tyson, the Arkansas-based poultry giant, Brazilian-owned JBS and China’s Smithfield for comment but has not received any responses.
Some experts blame the enormous volumes of manure produced by industrial-scale pig, poultry and cattle farms – often dumped on nearby fields, where nitrates seep into the soil and flow into waterways.
These mega farms discharge not only toxic nitrates but also heavy metals, pathogens, fertilizers and pesticides. Some produce more waste than entire cities.
Long-term nitrate exposure in water -even below the EPA’s maximum safety limit of 10 mg/L – has been tied to thyroid, kidney, ovarian, bladder and colon cancers, DNA damage, adverse pregnancy outcomes, and rising colorectal cancer rates in young people.
A shocking Public Library of Science report this week examined data from 357,000 births in Iowa between 1970 and 1988 and found that pregnant women exposed to nitrates in drinking water were more likely to have pre-term or underweight babies.
Jason Semprini, an assistant professor at Des Moines University, said even relatively low levels of nitrates led to ‘adverse birth outcomes, specifically pre-term birth and low birth weight.’
Long-term exposure to nitrate in water – even below EPA’s 10 mg/L limit – is linked to thyroid, kidney, ovarian, bladder and colorectal cancers
Factory farms leach nitrates and other toxins into the ground, and it ends up in tap water
An estimated 60 million Americans unknowingly consume tap water laced with nitrates, mostly in states and rural areas where agriculture is central to the economy, such as Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, central California, Texas, Oklahoma and Delaware.
Those reliant on well water are especially vulnerable.
But large cities are affected, too. An analysis by the Environmental Working Group, a research and advocacy organization, has highlighted the problem in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Miami and the suburbs of New York City.
When the safety limit was first established in the 1950s, scientists discovered that levels as low as 11 mg/L could cause methemoglobinemia – or blue baby syndrome.
The condition occurs when an infant’s blood cannot carry enough oxygen, causing bluish skin, particularly around the lips, fingers and toes. Left untreated, it can lead to respiratory distress and even death.
The most well-known cause is nitrate contamination in drinking water, which is sometimes mixed with baby formula. Fewer than 100 cases have been reported in the US.
‘Blue baby syndrome gets a lot of attention because it’s such a shocking condition,’ said Lobdell. ‘Equally concerning is chronic, lower level daily exposure over time.’
Iowa has become a flashpoint. Central Iowa Water Works is currently attempting to remove nitrates in water sourced from the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers, where levels have peaked.
Iowa residents have turned to at-home tests amid doubts that water chiefs are telling the truth
Tyson Foods, the largest US meat processor, is believed to have poured 371 million pounds of nitrogen, phosphorus, chloride, oil and cyanide into waterways between 2018 and 2022
Tyson’s $23million-a-year CEO Donnie King is accused of putting profits over public safety
The authority banned 600,000 residential and commercial customers from watering their lawns earlier this month because nitrate levels were so close to breaching the EPA limit.
Residents have posted videos on social media of at-home tests showing nitrate levels exceeding safety thresholds.
Worse still, standard filters and boiling drinking water do not remove nitrates. Only costly reverse osmosis systems are effective.
Central Iowa resident Joy Van Wyngarden posts about the seven-stage water filtration setup under her kitchen sink, urging neighbors to ‘take matters into their own hands’.
‘Do not wait and expect the municipalities to do that for you,’ the TikTok influencer said. ‘Advocate for yourself and your family’s health.’
Lobdell said the nitrate crisis spanned the entire meat industry, with Tyson and other agribusiness giants at the top of a pyramid that is slowly poisoning the population.
A study by the Union of Concerned Scientists, a research and advocacy group, last year found that just 41 Tyson slaughterhouses poured 371 million pounds of nitrogen, phosphorus, chloride, oil and cyanide into waterways between 2018 and 2022.
A leak of millions of gallons of sludge at a JBS beef plant in Nebraska in January 2024 stoked fears of polluted drinking water.
In South Dakota, residents endured high nitrate levels following discharge from a Smithfield plant in Sioux Falls.
None of the three companies answered the Daily Mail’s request for comment by the time of publication.
Big Ag firms have said that they work hard to keep nitrate levels within safety limits while producing affordable food for consumers.
Shane Smith, the $15million-a-year president and CEO at Smithfield Foods, says he runs a responsible operation
Wesley Batista Filho has led family owned JBS’s operations in the US since 2023. His Brazilian family is worth billions
They have at times blamed other factors, including leaky infrastructure and third-party suppliers, and downplayed the health risks of nitrates.
Environmental watchdogs have said that the industry uses lobbying muscle and legal loopholes to evade scrutiny, even as water contamination worsens.
Lobdell said Tyson, JBS, Smithfield, are among the worst offenders because they control so much of the factory farming market, but that the problem is much wider.
He accused the EPA of failing to stand up for affected communities. Federal and state officials needed to step in, crack down on offenders and raise safety limits.
‘We need to change the rules so that we’re focused on clean water, healthy drinking water, and not letting those be sacrificed resources so Big Ag can operate factory farms as cheaply as possible,’ he said.
An EPA spokesman told the Daily Mail that the agency reviewed its nitrate safety limit last year.
