Production rivals Consumption. From growing, food for livestock to the consumption of cheap fast food comes irreversible damage such as water and air pollution, increased health care expenses, and increased risk of disease. Through the fast food industry’s high demand for meat production, they increase the use of pesticides and fertilizers used to raise feed for livestock, while also increasing the use of petroleum in transportation. The process itself is not the only worry as fast food consumers suffer from obesity and chronic disease like diabetes.

The fast food industry has multiple steps that make it run. The growing of crops, the fattening of livestock, the production of products, the transportation of food, and the consumption of food. There are probably many more steps that are required for a restaurant like McDonald’s to work, but that’s the simple breakdown. In each of these steps comes a few side effects that result in its completion, harming us both indirectly and directly. Whether it be pollution or extra health care expenses, the fast food industry is the source of these consequences.

To start off fast food’s domino effect is farming crops. The cultivation of feed grains is the base on which the staggering numbers of livestock are fed. Thousands of acres are tilted and prepped to grow crops that will be tended to while being subjected to pesticides and fertilizers. These pesticides, while minuscule at first, continue to become the runoff that goes into the water or gets absorbed into the soil affecting future wildlife and plant growth. The love of using pesticides is from the food industry’s popularity. Crops need to have efficient yields to keep up with the demand for food. The purpose pesticides serve is staggeringly positive. Pesticides are the reason why major crop yields have tripled in the span of the last forty years. They do their job but are sloppy in cleaning up the mess made on the way to work.

Pesticides are used to protect crops, not humans. In the process of applying the pesticides, only one percent of the pesticides used actually hit their target. And the rest continues to get soaked up by the environment. Whether it be air or water, pesticides can manage to reach people. Agricultural areas especially, increase the risk to other individuals through spraying pesticides which can be carried through the air. And according to “Pesticides, Environmental Pollution, and Health” high pesticide exposures are likely to result in prostate or lung cancer as well as an increase in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

Along the way to getting food products to restaurants is global warming. Obviously, transportation contributes to the carbon dioxide pollution that contributes to global warming. Affecting everyone as global warming affects the weather, wildlife, sea levels, and much more. Food Transportation amounts to about eleven percent of greenhouse gas emissions. Though eleven isn’t the biggest percentage, any amount that contributes to global warming is money. The actual process of fixing global warming problems takes billions of dollars. Eleven percent of just a billion dollars is $110,000,000. 

Now in direct correlation with our health, fast food may just cost us our lives. The ingredients and high portions of the food served are the breeding grounds for obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and shortened lifespan. Obesity itself comes with its own set of increased risks and fast food that is filled with saturated fats, oils, and refined carbohydrates is just there to clog our arteries and attack our hearts. And the journal “The Hidden Dangers of Fast and Processed Food” agrees so far as to say that anything cooked with oil should be considered fast food. The author Joel Fuhrman continues in this journal to attack fast foods and the numerous dangerous aspects that threaten human health. 

Not only does Fuhrman write of fast food dangers to customers but also the workers:

“One serving of French fries or fried chicken that is cooked in a fast food restaurant has 100 times the level of aldehydes designated as safe by the World Health Organization. Even the fumes are so toxic they increase the risk of cancer. People working in restaurants that fry the food, or those working in a movie theater making popcorn, have a heightened risk of lung and other cancers, even if they don’t eat any of the fried foods.”

As the risks rise in obesity so does healthcare. Fast food basically costs more than consumers bargained for when they are paying more for health insurance. The simple way fast food affects people’s health insurance is that the food increases weight gain and gets people closer to obesity. As the gap between being non-obese and obese shrinks, the risks of contracting a chronic disease grow. When dealing with chronic diseases like diabetes, people have to spend around $9,000 more annually on medical expenditures. Though just gaining weight can increase the number of times a person needs to be seen by a doctor due to weight-related problems which in turn increases medical costs. 

The most significant consequence of all is the years taken off our life. Studies show that the more obese a person becomes the more time they have taken off their lifespan. According to “A Heavy Burden” morbidly obese people have around four to five years robbed. Take the money that would be earned within those years and flush it down the toilet. Cheap food is deceiving and will return to take your wallet.

The fast food industry is breaking world records in obesity rates and social consequences. Pesticides promote cancer among people, The meat production process is unarguably polluting the environment, food transportation contributes to global warming, and the items on restaurant menus cause people to take the full blast of obesity. Each of these steps is costing the government and fast food consumers money. Governments spend money fixing pollution and global warming, and consumers are paying with and for their health.

References

Behzad, Masoud, et al. Researchgate.net, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd., 2014, https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Heetae-Kim-4. 

Bhattacharya, J.,  & Sood, N. Health Insurance, Obesity, and Its Economic Cost. The Economics of Obesity. Usda. 

Fuhrman J. The Hidden Dangers of Fast and Processed Food. Am J Lifestyle Med. 2018 Apr 3;12(5):375-381. doi: 10.1177/1559827618766483. PMID: 30283262; PMCID: PMC6146358.

Özkara, A., Akyıl, D., & Konuk, M. (2016). Pesticides, Environmental Pollution, and Health. In M. L.  Larramendy, & S. Soloneski (Eds.), Environmental Health Risk – Hazardous Factors to Living Species. IntechOpen. https://doi.org/10.5772/63094