Dear To Whom It May Concern

14. Concerns with noise. Intensive broiler factories are excessively noisy and potentially damaging to
the human ear, and even though chickens do not have an outer ear, their inner ear serves the
function of equilibrium and hearing. Such an unnatural environment can result in physiological
imbalances. Noise emitted from fans, feeders, poultry loading equipment, feed delivery, fork-lifts,
farm equipment, excessive noise from inside the sheds from thousands of distressed chickens, in
combination with unattended alarms going off due to potential poor farm management, thousands
of semi-trailers driving along local roads, delivering, reversing, and removing chickens from the
factory broiler sheds.................... You are invited to listen to a B-double reversing.
http://youtu.be/9nSWoJ7A3Do

Anything living onroute/near/in a broiler factory would be traumatized by this cacophony of noise.

15. There are also concerns about the platypus living in the local waterways. Platypus are vulnerable
to the effects of pollution and as they are semi-aquatic, they rely on the health of small creeks and
rivers for their survival. Blackfellow Creek is the home of many platypus. All platypus feed on a
healthy selection of small water animals such as insect larvae, freshwater shrimps and crayfish.
The toxic runoff and seepage from the estimated annual 2,310 tonne of shed litter each year into
this habitat will be detrimental to all life forms who rely on quality water in the ecosystem.

16. There are other concerns about the future water quality as it is an important issue for human
health and the environment. The toxic runoff from the shed litter from at least one and a half million
broiler chickens annually with high concentrations of ammonia, nitrogen, antibiotics, arsenic, cresylic
acid, formaldehyde and organophosphate pesticides, would be an environmental disaster with far
reaching consequences, including potential litigation (owner and Council) to destruction of a healthy
habitat environment.

17. Scientific evidence supports the notion that feeding chickens with antibiotics on a consistent
basis may cause the humans who consume the meat to lose some of their ability to fight certain
strains of bacteria. A research team led by scientists from The University of Texas Health Science
Center at Houston (UTHealth) published a paper in the Sept. 8 2013 issue of the New England
Journal of Medicine, showing that Antibiotic resistance of a superbug known as vancomycin-
resistant enterococci (VRE) is caused by a specific change in its genome. Bacterial Superbugs which
have become resistant to different types of antibiotics are presenting an increasing challenge to the
world of healthcare; in fact one could go so far as to say that they will be one of the leading health
problems of this century. Antibiotic resistance is becoming more commonly seen as a problem that
cannot be easily treated with other medicines. The associated problems of the superbug infection
often lead to longer illnesses, extended hospital stays and in some cases death. If there is a situation
where antibiotics are used in poultry production, clearly in that environment there is going to be a
more rapid spread of resistance. http://youtu.be/yZ5dAEesEk8

18. There is a genuine concern that once a broiler factory farm is established in a specific Council
area, many more applications will follow. Should this occur, Noosa Biosphere would lose its hard
fought status as an unique World sustainability model. The reader is strongly urged to go to the
Noosa Biosphere website at http://www.noosabiosphere.info/what_is_a_biosphere.htm to gain a
full understanding of what a biosphere is and how it works. It is our responsibility to protect our
beautiful environment for future generations to enjoy.

19. The World Health Organization is concerned about the Influenza viruses (bird flu) circulating in
chickens that pose threats to human health. The primary risk factor for human infection appears to
be direct or indirect exposure to infected live or dead animals or contaminated environments. This
includes travelling between farms and slaughterhouses. This is a concern for not only local residents
but for the Noosa tourist industry.