MEP Sylwia Spurek wrote a letter to the European Parliament highlighting that farms make the lives of thousands of European women and Europeans living in their neighbourhood hell. She also mentioned that people can’t go out for a walk with their children because of the odour nuisance and open the windows.ย
She extended, Not just the smell, Farms are emissions of harmful gases, particulate matter, viruses and bacteria, water, soil and air pollution, and constant noise.
MEP Spurek questioned the National Council of Agricultural Chambers, “Do people living in rural areas have the right to clean air and health? Or are the nuisance odours and the polluting farm in the neighbourhood an everyday reality with which they can only come to terms?”
ย Some people and organizations want to support them in enforcing this law. Still, some opponents believe that people settling in the countryside should consider the conditions associated with such a choice.
As per the sources, From 2009-2019, 841 protests by local communities against farms took place in Poland. Similarly, local governments sent 2,683 complaints and 24 appeals to the controlling institutions regarding breeding.
The Supreme Administrative Court also noticed the relationship between the unpleasant odour and the functioning of the farms and combined it with a real impact on the deterioration of health.
ย In the judgment of 2019, The Supreme Administrative Court indicated such consequences as “diseases” and “physical disabilities” that lead to anxiety and discomfort, depression, headaches, irritation, respiratory problems and vomiting.
Despite this, they still have not seen the “anti-odour act” regulating the distance of problematic practices from residential buildings as there was an initiative to deal with the matter at the European level.
Moreover, MEP Sylwia Spurek prepared a draft resolution to be considered by the European Parliament. She calls on the European Commission to update the law on the concentration of farms and their distance from places of life and human activity.
The Greens MEP also desires the protection of waters against pollution from agriculture to be strengthened and the targets for reducing ammonia emissions to be set.
MEP Spurek hopes to be adopted in the current term of the EP and mentioned that the value of real estate near the farms is falling, so people, often elderly, cannot move from there to another place. In addition, running an agritourism farm and organic plant production becomes impossible.ย
In this initiative, MEP Spurek is being supportive by several dozen Polish and European organizations, which are mentioned below:
- ย The Otwarte Klatki association
- ย Viva! Foundation
- ย Action Demokracja
- ย Compassion in World Farming Poland, Ekowyborca
- ย Ecological Thought Club Foundation
- ย Youth Climate Strike and Parents for Climate.
Morgan Janowicz of the Green REV Institute, an organization founded by Spurek, also commented, “People living in rural areas who can no longer live in stress, stench, and noise come to us. It is not the countryside that stinks – this stench is a consequence of the intensification and industrialization of “agriculture“.
President of the National Council of Agricultural Chambers, Wiktor Szmulewicz admits that the odours may harm human well-being and health. Still, their sources may be different – not only agricultural production.ย
In addition, he explains, the distances of projects related to animal production from existing residential buildings are already defined by other laws.
The National Chamber of Agricultural Councils’ president wrote, “The agricultural self-government believes that properly conducted farming is not a significant nuisance for rural residents. People who settle in the countryside should consider the conditions related to such a choice of residence.
The MEP Sypurak emphasizes that people living in the countryside face huge problems and must deal with big industries with huge amounts of money on their own. According to her, the Chamber should therefore stand on the side of the residents.
Despite this, European people still have not seen the “anti-odour act” regulating the distance of problematic practices from residential buildings.ย
MEP Sypuruk said, Although work on the project began in 2019, and its completion has been announced several times, the document still needs to be adopted. She further extended that she is still determining when or if it will ever happen.
At the last session of the Sejm, Spatial Planning Act rejects the Senate’s amendments to the amendment. If it passed, local governments could decide on factory farms’ location on their territory. But the PiS government did not want that.
