Ammonia pollution hotspots have been identified in areas with some of the greatest numbers of intensive pig and poultry farms in Britain, research has revealed.<\/p>\n
A new map for the first time reveals the most severe concentrations of ammonia emissions are clustered in Lincolnshire, Herefordshire and Norfolk. These regions all have a high density of intensive poultry and pig units that drive dangerous levels of ammonia, according to researchers from Compassion in World Farming<\/a> (CiWF) and Sustain.<\/p>\n The research comes as the government attempts to rewrite planning rules<\/a> to make it easier to build intensive livestock farms despite concerns about water pollution, air quality and local opposition, the Guardian revealed earlier this month.<\/p>\n Ammonia emissions are dangerous to human health and the environment. In the UK, agriculture is responsible for 89% of national emissions of the nitrogen-based gas used to produce fertilisers and released from livestock manure. Industrial intensive animal farming increases the environmental and health burdens associated with ammonia, CiWF says in a report<\/a> published on Thursday alongside the map<\/a>.<\/p>\n Once in the air, ammonia reacts with other pollutants to form particulate matter \u2013 PM2.5, which is considered one of the most dangerous forms of air pollution<\/a>. The Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP) estimated<\/a> human-made PM2.5 exposure was responsible for between 28,861 and 29,000 premature deaths in the UK in 2010.<\/p>\n Modelling shows that reducing agricultural emissions could dramatically cut mortality rates.<\/p>\n map of ammonia emissions in the UK<\/a><\/p>\n Dr Amir Khan, a GP and patron of CiWF, said: \u201cAs a GP, I see first-hand the toll that air pollution takes on people\u2019s health \u2013 and ammonia from intensive farming is a major, yet often overlooked, part of that problem.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fine particulate matter formed from ammonia exposure drives heart disease, stroke, asthma and chronic lung conditions, and it is our most vulnerable patients who pay the price.\u201d<\/p>\n Released into the environment, excess nitrogen from ammonia deposition acidifies soils and pollutes rivers. In Shropshire<\/a>, campaigners recently blocked permission for a poultry megafarm by successfully arguing the council had failed to take into account all the environmental impacts of an industrial unit containing 230,000 chickens at any one time when it granted planning permission.<\/p>\n