Reality Cheques - Agri-culture: Reconnecting People, Land and Nature - page 63

No one has yet put a cost on these losses. However, if they were internal-
ized in the prices of fertilizers, or the activities of intensive livestock units,
we would expect much greater concern about such polluting activities. 28
At the University of Essex, we recently conducted a study of the costs
of nutrient enrichment of water in the UK. 29 Eutrophication affects the
value of waterside properties, and reduces the recreational and amenity
value of water bodies for water sports, angling and general amenity; for
industrial uses; for the tourist industry; and for commercial aquaculture,
fisheries, and shell-fisheries. Additional costs are incurred through a variety
of social responses by both statutory and non-statutory agencies. In total,
we estimate nutrient enrichment to cost some UK£130-170 million per
year in the UK. 30
Industrialized Agriculture and Food-Borne Illnesses
Having mostly conquered hunger in industrialized countries, it is a sad
irony that food is now a major source of ill health. We eat too much, we
eat the wrong mix of foods, and we get ill from food-borne illnesses. In
Europe, 10 to 20 per cent of all people are defined as obese, with a body
mass index greater than 30 kilogrammes per square metre. The World
Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 2 to 7 per cent of health-
care costs in Europe arise from obesity, and one American study suggests
that a 10 per cent weight loss amongst obese people would increase life
expectancy by two to seven months, and produce lifetime benefits of
US$2000 to US$6000 per person. 31 Several diseases are strongly linked
to unbalanced food consumption, including non-insulin dependent
diabetes, the incidence of which is growing rapidly, together with strokes,
coronary heart disease and some cancers.
Many of these health problems, though, are attributable to the choices
consumers make. We could eat five portions of fruit and vegetables per
day, thus protecting against many of these problems, but for a variety of
reasons we do not. But we cannot choose when it comes to food-borne
diseases. The WHO estimates that 130 million people in Europe are
affected by food-borne diseases each year, mainly from biological sources,
particularly strains of Salmonella , Campylobacter , Listeria and E.coli . Salmonella
is the most common pathogen, accounting for up to 90 per cent of cases
in some countries. Throughout the world, diarrhoea is the most common
symptom of food-borne illness, and is a major cause of death and retard-
ation of growth in infants. There is evidence that cases of Campylobacter
and Salmonella poisoning are increasing in Europe, though some of the
increases can be explained by better monitoring systems. 32 In the US, the