What the science says about living near giant hog operations and methane digesters

Unconfined Podcast with Guest Chris Heaney

Back in the 1990s, a University of North Carolina epidemiologist named Steve Wing pursued what was then a novel idea: to find out the healt h effects of living, drinking water, and breathing near CAFOs, he didn't just set up sensors and draw blood from nearby residents . Instead, he consulted them about what questions to ask, often listing them as co-authors on academic papers . In the decades since, he spearheaded a large body of research demonstrating the dire health effects, physical and mental, of living amid the hog industry's stench and pollution . Wing died of cancer in 201 6 . One of his proteges, Johns Hopkins Un iversity professor Chris Heaney, has carried on in Wing's tradition—and is now studying how biodig e sters affect life in the are a. In the final episode of our biogas series, Heaney breaks down the community-directed research, and updates us on his ongoing biodigester work.