by Matt Langan

Abstract
As human beings, we don’t just live amongst one another alone. Our environment lives with us, serving as our primary home for our life in this world. It is vital to maintain and keep our environment healthy so we can continue to live a healthy lifestyle. The growing process of injecting species with steroids is continuing to move away from this responsibility. The reasons, to produce more beef in cattle by fattening them up, are significantly outweighed by the reasons our environment needs to stay strong and disease free. Each year, farmers send 30 million head of cattle to feedlots where livestock producers treat 80% of them with steroid hormones (Science News). This ongoing process is taking a toll on our air, water, and land as well as certain other species that are being affected by this needless method. These hormones are passed through the cattle into their feces where they then spread out into the environment through various ways. The danger of “lagoons” and our aquatic system, soil and air pollution, and feminization of fish are all problems brought about by hormone injection. I will explain the impact each of these three problems has on our environment, and why the process of injecting species with steroids should be banned.

Aquatic Systems
Cattle manure serves as a natural fertilizer on many U.S. farms nationwide. Manure is taken to feedlots where more than a trillion pounds are deposited a year, turning perfectly nutritious soil toxic (Eric Schlosser, Sierra Magazine). The problem here is the question of where that manure then goes? Factory farms located in more rural areas usually produce more excrement than farms in Atlanta or Boston. But unlike those bigger cities, rural farms don’t have their own waste-treatment facilities (Schlosser). What these farmers then do is either spray the manure on open fields or dump into large pits known as “lagoons.” The runoff created by these lagoons allows the steroid infested manure to enter water streams and spread across the area. This process serves as one of the leading causes of water pollution in the U.S. along with pesticides and gasoline deposits (Grinning Planet). This contamination is affecting our water quality and making our every sip even riskier to take.
In England, the farm animal population is considerably higher than the human population. This makes the issue of waste manure depositing highly significant. “The potential steroid hormone contribution of farm animals to freshwaters, the United Kingdom as a case study” attempted to uncover just how important of a factor farm animals are towards water pollution. Scientists found that “if steroid oestrogens behave like herbicides, in which a worst case loss to surface waters is around 1%, then it could be argued that farm animals are responsible for 15% of all the oestrogens in UK waters” (A.C. Johnson, Science of The Total Environment). This stands to show farm animals serve as large source in the pollution of water.
Effects can be quick and overwhelming. Overused lagoons can sometimes overflow and wipe out entire fish populations. Manure can also build up and run off the land into the water, polluting the nutrients in the streams. Another threat posed to our water systems is the deposits of nitrogen and phosphorous. These elements also enter streams through animal waste. They come in and destroy vast amounts of algae, killing aquatic life by depriving them of oxygen. A microorganism called Pfiesteria piscicida is responsible for the death of a billion fish in North Carolina. Lagoons can release ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, and methane as well (Pollution from Giant Livestock Farms Threatens Public Health). Manure can also contain heavy metals and salt. These products enter the water and accumulate in the sediment, concentrating as they move up the food chain (Pollution from Giant Livestock…). These various factors serve as significant threats to the quality of our water. From the U.S. to England to other countries worldwide, the release of animal manure into the environment can greatly affect the future of our water system. The release of products such as methane, ammonia, nitrogen, phosphorous, and several heavy metals is serving as a negative sign to our health. Water; the most important necessity for mankind, must be protected from this detrimental process.

Land and Air Pollution
A main source to the pollution of our air and water is the process of spraying manure onto land. Farmers use this method as an efficient way to fertilize crops, but these “spray fields” still bring about much harm. Heavy metals such as cadmium, selenium, copper, zinc, and arsenic are consistently added to livestock feed and poison the land when deposited through the manure (Schlosser). These drastic effects spread into our air as well. According to Wendy Powers, Professor and Director of Environmental Stewardship for Animal Agriculture at Michigan State, odor, ammonia, and greenhouse gas serve as the biggest concerns brought about by this process. Odor issues are a local concern and are caused by the accumulation of manure on land (Wendy Powers). As more and more manure is piled up and tossed into pits or sprayed onto crops, the chemicals get emitted into the air and begin messing with the scent. This problem, along with ammonia and greenhouse gas, can lead to human health concerns (Powers).
This livestock process accounts for 30 times more waste material than humans, producing 1.375 billion tons a year (Luke Bassis, Waste Disposal). According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 27% of waste comes from recycling and composting, 16% is combusted, and 57% is land filling (Bassis). These high numbers suggest our land is in danger, and with the danger of our land comes the consequences of our air and water quality. Once the undigested material from the manure gets into the soil, the poisons spread throughout the land and eventually into the air we breathe. Wildlife death, acid rain, destroyed vegetation, and the interruption of the balance of nature are all consequences from the pollution of air and land through injecting cattle with steroids (Causes and Effects of Land Pollution). These events all pose great harm to our environment and can be maintained through the protection of land soil.

Feminization of Fish
The cattle injection of steroids doesn’t just harm the air, water, and land but affects the species that live within those environments as well. This is a major concern for our environment because animals are extremely vital to its health and operation. The main specie concern stemming from this process is the feminization of male fish. Concentrations of steroid hormones in water can be high enough to deprive male fish of their testosterone while also affecting their chemical communication and ability to reproduce (David Sedlak, The Fate of Hormones in the Aquatic Environment). In a study funded by the European Union research program, Louis J. Guillette Jr. of the University of Florida and Ana M. Soto of Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston discovered the harm these hormones are causing to our environment. Their study concentrated on the runoff from feedlots in Nebraska and the comparison between hormonal activity in downstream and upstream waters (Janet Raloff, Science News). Soto found that estrogenic pollutants in the downstream sites were almost doubled in the upstream sites, and downstream sites were considerably more androgenic. According to Soto, “One downstream sample exhibited nearly four times the androgenicity of the upstream water” (Raloff). This study finds that the steroid hormones being released aren’t just harmlessly floating around these fish populations. The scientists found that male minnows just downstream had a “significantly reduced testis size.” According to Guillette, this is why downstream minnows are producing less testosterone than males upstream. Also examined was the reduced fat in their heads, a common signal of low testosterone production (Raloff). These waterborne androgens are telling male minnows to produce less testosterone, resulting in gradual feminization. Guillette told Science News that wild fish "are being nailed by polluting hormones" and males are becoming feminized while females are becoming more masculinized (Raloff). These high amounts of synthetic androgens can remain environmentally active for months compared with just hours for testosterone, and the high hormone levels found below these feedlots indicate "significant estrogenic and androgenic activity is released into water by feedlot operations" (e.hormone.tulane.edu). The feminization of male fish leads to the reduction of testosterone, and without testosterone comes the inability to reproduce. These are significant problems being posed to not only aquatic wildlife but wildlife everywhere. This evidence supports that feedlots are the cause for this affect on fish, and in order to prevent this feminization and disruption of reproduction, the risk of exposing the environment to these hormones must come to a halt.

Conclusion
Our environment is highly important to us. We need our air to breathe and water to drink, and without those resources are health is in considerable danger. Livestock operations worldwide are polluting our environment daily through various ways. Runoff from waste lagoons is affecting water quality while releasing harmful substances such as ammonia and hydrogen sulfide. The process of spraying manure onto fields is allowing heavy metals such as zinc and copper to poison our land. Our air quality is diminishing through factors like ammonia, odor, and greenhouse gas. With these land, water, and air issues come wildlife problems. Hormones are getting into the water and disturbing fish populations by feminizing male fish and masculinizing female fish. These disruptions are affecting chemical communication and the ability to reproduce which is the most significant problem posed to animals. As you can see, injecting cattle with steroids is creating more harm than good. The health and maintenance of our environment is significantly more important than beefing up cattle for monetary gain. After all, how could we even live in a poisoned world?