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Environmental Nutrition Newsletter
We eat for good health, but some of the practices in our food system may be putting us at risk. Routine use of antibiotics, which the industrialized food system relies on for managing the health and growth of livestock, might contribute to human health risk. Many reputable health organizations blame the widespread use in animal agriculture for the rise in resistant bacteria.
ANIMALS AND ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE
It's estimated that more than 70 percent of all antibiotics used in the U.S. are fed to farm animals such as cattle, poultry, pigs, and farmed fish for nontherapeutic purposes, in an attempt to grow them faster and move them more quickly to market. Many of the antibiotics used are identical, or almost identical, to human antibiotics, such as penicillin and tetracycline.
Experts believe that the drugs are added to animal feed and water in an attempt to compensate for the often overcrowded and unsanitary conditions that make these animals vulnerable to disease. What's of greater concern than the potential for antibiotics to end up in animal meat is the fact that antibiotics used in animal feed and water are absorbed into ground water, manure and soil, and carried by airborne dust, thus putting farm families and workers, as well as the surrounding communities at risk for antibiotic resistance.
The first step to preventing antibiotic resistance in humans is to control the number of prescriptions, then to make sure that people who are prescribed them take the entire course in order to avoid lingering bacteria that are not killed and may become resistant to the antibiotic the next time they get sick. There is also evidence that the overuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture contributes to antibiotic resistance.
In the
If passed, the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA) of 2009 would require the
Despite the agreement by the
A DIFFERENT VIEW
If you'd like to avoid antibiotics in animal products while you await a verdict on the future use of antibiotics in animal agriculture, organic meats and meats labeled "No Antibiotics Added" are available at local markets.
Available at Amazon.com:
Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder
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Health - Experts Revisiting the Use of Antibiotics in Animal Agriculture