title: Human impairment from living near confined animal (hog) feeding operations.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether neighbors around manure lagoons and massive hog confinement buildings who complained of offensive odors and symptoms had impaired brain and lung functions.
  
  
  METHODS
  We compared near hog manure neighbors of lagoons to people living beyond 3 kilometers in Ohio and to unexposed people controls in a nearby state for neurophysiological, cognitive, recall and memory functions, and pulmonary performance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 25 exposed subjects averaged 4.3 neurobehavioral abnormalities, significantly different from 2.5 for local controls and 2.3 for Tennessee controls. Exposed subjects mean forced vital capacity and expiratory volume in 1 sec were reduced significantly compared to local and regional controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Near neighbors of hog enclosures and manure lagoon gases had impaired neurobehavioral functions and pulmonary functions and these effects extended to nearby people thought to be controls. Hydrogen sulfide must be abated because people living near lagoons cannot avoid rotten egg gas.
authors.affiliation: Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA. khkilburn@sbcglobal.net
authors.forename: Kaye H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Kilburn
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity*; D000818:Animals; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005260:Female; D006799:Housing, Animal; D006801:Humans; D006862:Hydrogen Sulfide / Q000633:toxicity*; D019570:Inhalation Exposure; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009820:Ohio; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013552:Swine; D013714:Tennessee
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D006862:Hydrogen Sulfide