Chickens bred for meat, commonly known as broilers, are the most intensely cultivated animals on the planet. While this type of mass production first began in North America in the 1940s, Asia has emerged as a major broiler producer. In 2020, the region already accounted for 38% of global production of chicken meat, and this is only expected to grow.

Until recently, backyard chicken farming was the dominant form of production in Asia. However, governments and scientists have begun discouraging these smallholder operations due to perceived biosecurity and financial risks. In other words, it’s believed that smaller farms lack capacity and access to veterinary care, leading to the potential for diseases to spread. As a result, poultry production in the region has become vertically integrated, with companies controlling almost the entire value chain from feed production to farming to slaughter to retail. This shift has been supported by government policies that encourage direct investment, contract farming, industry tax incentives, and infrastructure development.

While the rate of industrialization varies by country, more region-specific research is needed to understand the inner workings of Asia’s poultry industry — not only its supply chains and trade flows, but also the risks it poses to humans, animals, and the environment. Although the One Health policy framework championed by the World Health Organization theoretically addresses these risks, the authors of this article argue that, in practice, it’s falling short.

One Health initiatives primarily involve preventative measures to reduce the risk of infectious diseases spread from animals to humans. However, this narrow approach prioritizes industry interests and overlooks other social and environmental issues within the poultry industry. As a result, interventions in factory farms focus on technological improvements like “better” breeds of chickens or calibrated feed, while challenges in animal welfare, labor safety, and environmental sustainability become byproducts of an optimized rearing system.

Instead, the authors emphasize the need to look at the poultry industry in Asia through a wider lens, which they call the “broiler complex.” Their vision of the broiler complex goes beyond the chicken farm to include the farms that grow the feed crops, the feed mills, the slaughterhouses, the transport networks, and the retail outlets — plus all the various chemicals that flow across this value chain.

By placing a spotlight on the full range of activities that sustain the industry, the authors explain that it’s clear how Asia’s poultry boom has coincided with a maize boom for chicken feed and its associated chemical risks. Between 2000 and 2010, for instance, agricultural inputs like fertilizers, insecticides, and fungicides grew by 400% in Southeast Asia. Like the green revolution of the 1960s, the authors state that this new wave of crop production for livestock feed has produced similar challenges in relation to pollution, debt, and chemical dependence.

Runoff into the Mekong and Ganges rivers, which are part of the most populous and intensively farmed regions in Asia, contain persistent organic pollutants (“forever chemicals”) and toxic heavy metals that bioaccumulate in the environment. While not well studied, there’s evidence of chemical absorption in humans, especially agricultural workers in the region who are often undocumented or migrants.

Veterinary drugs have also been an integral part of intensive poultry farming, with some fast-growing breeds of chickens essentially requiring continuous administration of drugs and specialized feed. However, growing evidence suggests that these chemicals are making their way into waterways, soils, crops, and people through chicken manure applied as fertilizer. This provides yet another reason why an integrated approach to the poultry industry is key to understanding how these chemicals circulate and accumulate and who they impact most.

In sum, the current One Health approach, with its narrow focus on zoonotic disease and antimicrobial resistance at the level of the individual factory farm, lacks the integrative, holistic view necessary to respond to the poultry industry’s explosive growth. The authors conclude that an understanding of the entire broiler complex is essential to better govern the industry, both in Asia and globally. This understanding can lead to more informed policies that benefit everyone — animals, people, and the planet.

For animal advocates, advocating for transparency within the poultry industry can raise awareness amongst both consumers and policymakers of its harmful, interrelated impacts. At the end of the day, the growing poultry industry is not just an issue of animal welfare; it influences everything from climate change to human health. A holistic approach is needed to fully understand and manage this complex system.