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Volume CXXXII, Number 23 |
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Livestock health hazard
JONATHAN PEREZ
JONATHAN PEREZ
A tendency to over-prescribe antibiotics in humans has been found in farm animals and livestock. Many "food animals" such as pigs, poultry, and beef cattle currently receive unnecessary dosages of penicillin, tetracyclines, and erythromycin.
In a study conducted last January by the Union of Concerned Scientists, a report found up to 70 percent of the antibiotics used in livestock were not for disease treatment, but instead affected non-therapeutic purposes, such as growth development. The report entitled, Hogging It: Estimates of Antimicrobial Abuse in Livestock, also estimates a whopping 24.6 million pounds of antibiotics are fed to animals annually. As a result, livestock animals have shown a drastic increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria over the past decade.
In doing so, many farmers in livestock operations have put at risk the general public by contaminating our foods with resistant bacteria. Commonly transmitted through undercooked meats, farmers themselves are not immune to becoming infected while caring for the animals. Other known contaminations include water runoff from farm lagoons, which is commonly associated with storing animal wastes, that eventually seeps into groundwater and nearby rivers and lakes, reaching humans in the form of untreated drinking water or infected fish.
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria include Salmonella, which accounts for over 1.4 million illnesses and 500 deaths annually in the U.S. Bacteria of this kind, pass on quick resistance to future generations in a process of rapid regeneration, that at times can occur as fast as every 20 minutes, putting the body's defense mechanisms at high risk.
The Union of Concerned Scientists has called for an immediate response in public awareness. They suggest increased public pressure on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to institute a law that would require companies using antibiotics to report yearly quantities. Also they suggest that the FDA, USDA, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) implement a government action plan calling for the surveillance and monitoring of antibiotic use in livestock.
Action on the local level includes a banning of store bought meats routinely associated with antibiotic use (for a complete list of antibiotic-free meats, please consult www.iatp.org), as well as increased public pressures on restaurants and supermarkets to discontinue the buying and selling of antibiotic-fed meat products.
For more information, please visit information@KeepAntibioticsWorking.com and the Union of Concerned Scientists' Food and Environment Program at www.ucsusa.org/food.
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