Hospitals Say “No” to Meat Raised with Antibiotics

[marmar]

from Civil Eats:



Hospitals Say “No” to Meat Raised with Antibiotics
By Sapna Thottathil, Lucia Sayre and Kendra Klein on May 20, 2013


On April 8, the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center stepped into the debate about antibiotic use in animal agriculture. Under the guidance of physicians and foodservice staff alike, UCSF’s Academic Senate unanimously approved a resolution to phase out the procurement of meat raised with non-therapeutic antibiotics and urged all ten University of California campuses to do the same. This resolution is not just a symbolic decision – serving over 650,000 meals per year to patients, staff, and the community, and with a food budget of close to $7 million, UCSF and its food purchasing choices have the power to send a strong message to the market and to policymakers.

“There is overwhelming scientific consensus that overuse of antibiotics in livestock is a health hazard to people,” says Dr. Thomas Newman, a member of the Academic Senate who spearheaded the resolution with the help of the non-profit San Francisco Bay Physicians for Social Responsibility. He is in good company. Independent experts ranging from the World Health Organization to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences agree that the routine use of antibiotics in animal agriculture cultivates antibiotic-resistant bacteria, threatening the long-term efficacy of antibiotics for human use.

Two thirds of the drugs that animals in our food supply get in their feed and water, from penicillins to macrolides, might sound familiar to anyone who has been to the hospital recently. In fact, eighty percent of all of the antibiotics sold in the U.S., almost 30 million pounds on an annual basis, are used for meat production. The majority are given to otherwise healthy animals in order to promote faster growth and to compensate for unsanitary and overcrowded living conditions.

“We believe that health care is best positioned to lead our society away from its addiction to antibiotics in animal agriculture,” says Gary Cohen, President of the non-profit organization Health Care Without Harm. He adds: “Hospitals have both the mission-critical rationale and the economic clout.” Health Care Without Harm works to leverage both health care’s healing mission and purchasing power on a range of sustainable food issues, from organic production to local food purchasing. UCSF is one of over 440 hospitals across the country that have signed Health Care Without Harm’s Healthy Food in Health Care Pledge, which states that healthy food must come from a food system that is ecologically-sustainable, economically-viable, and socially-just. .....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://civileats.com/2013/05/20/hospitals-say-no-to-meat-raised-with-antibiotics/

[xchrom]

1. du rec. nt

[byeya]

2. Hooray! Their being organized will have more of an impact than lone voices. Also, the $7 million

will help open eyes of the greedy.

Feeding antibiotics to livestock will kill many people. Who knows what the presence of antibiotics in waterways will do to the organisms that live there.

[mucifer]

3. K and R. But, San Francisco is kinda a unique place.

I'm not sure this will catch on. I hope it does.

[Berlum]

4. Nota bene

k and r

[BlueToTheBone]

5. As California goes, so goes the nation. n/t

[Arcanetrance]

6. I like this idea alot I wish we could get these out if our meats altogether

[MsPithy]

7. I am sorry to throw cold water, but

they will just buy some legislators and have the FDA remove antibiotic use from the label.

[They_Live]

11. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

We must be even more vigilant than the other side, because they will NEVER relent until they have destroyed everything.

[Brainstormy]

8. This should be the NUMBER ONE

priority in the list of many changes that must come to our industrialized food system. More of us already die each year of MRSA than from AIDS. Animal to human transmission has been confirmed.And the antibiotics that go into these food animals to make them fat, are making us fat, too.

It appears increasingly plausible that the widespread administration of antibiotics to young children is altering the bacteria in their intestines in a way that increases their ability to convert food into biomass, just like our livestock. In this way, antibiotics seem to be directly contributing to the obesity epidemic.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-spector-md/antibiotics-health_b_2024127.html


Please tell your congressman to PASS PAMTA!

[Betsy Ross]

9. Look for kosher meat

Raised w/o antibiotics or hormones.

[BrotherIvan]

10. YAAAAAAAAAAAY!

Anything to clean up our food supply is worth celebrating. Consumers can definitely change the tide and demand better farming practices. I wish there were ways, like the community gardens, that there were also co-ops for meat, milk, etc. where lower income people could buy in bulk directly from farmers and have access to fresh healthy food.

I know San Francisco is a vanguard in the organic movement and the slow food movement, but hospitals acknowledging that the way we poison our food has an effect is a good step forward.

[Chemisse]

12. Finally someone is doing something about this!

We've only known this was a really bad idea for 35 years.

"The FDA tried to restrict their use in 1977, but Congress opposed the restrictions. The agency, doctors, farmers and activists have been fighting about the issue ever since."

[TinkerTot55]

13. It might not be a bad idea......

...for people to email this referenced article to their State University Hospitals/Health Care Systems for their consideration. If enough taxpayer-supported, university-affiliated health care systems and medical schools choose this same policy, it could have a significant impact on public health.
It's a good thing.
And the private sector may have to follow along.