80% of U.S. Antibiotics Go to Farm Animals

[The Straight Story]

80% of U.S. Antibiotics Go to Farm Animals

Approximately 80% of antibiotics sold in the United States each year are used on farm animals, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and that has food and health advocates alarmed. The FDA estimates that 29 million pounds of antibiotics a year are given to U.S. livestock.

The FDA released the information at the request of U.S. Representative Louise Slaughter (D-New York), who plans to reintroduce legislation that would limit the drugging of animals in order to preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics in humans.

“Today I confirmed an alarming number that should shock all of us: 4 out of 5 antibiotics sold in this country were for use on animals, many of whom are not even sick, and that is dangerous to all of us,” said Slaughter.

As journalist Maryn McKenna, author of Superbug: The Fatal Menace of MRSA, explains: “The reason why antibiotic use on farms is a concern, of course, is because such use stimulates the emergence of drug-resistant organisms that move off the farm in animals, in groundwater, in dust, on the wind and in the systems and on the clothes of those who work there, and makes new resistance factors available to be swapped among bacteria.”

http://www.allgov.com/Top_Stories/ViewNews/80_Percent_of_US_Antibiotics_Go_to_Farm_Animals_110304

[snappyturtle]

1. This is very important....thanks for posting.

I think we need to remember too that's it's not just the farm animals that threaten us but the crops and the nasty herbicides and

fertilizers. Those who still raise cattle and crops may be fertilizing with manure spreaders on top of commercial fertilizers. So you can see

where that is going. I can whole heartedly tell you this: I have been here, back on family farm in IN, six and a half months and I am

sick....I had a near death experience three days after Christmas. I know I have to leave here soon which means leaving my mother, the reason

I came. I was very healthy and robust when I arrived in August and today I am weak. There is so much sickness here....too many die here of

cancer (high ratio) and strange respiratory conditions. It's all about crop yield and quick fattening of cattle as I see it. This nightmare

is dispersing to your neighborhood via our food.

[fasttense]

2. The reason so much antibiotic is used on farm animals is

because farm animals on factory farms are kept in filthy, overcrowded conditions that breed diseases. Without the antibiotics, the animals would die and the factory farm would get nothing for the dead, diseased carcases. Even healthy animals are given antibiotics to keep the infections from spreading throughout the flock or herd.

When I first started raising animals on our small farm, I was afraid disease would wipe out my animals and destroy all the hard work that went into feeding and caring for them. But then I noticed my animals hardly got sick. As long as I kept their stalls, coops and sheds clean, as long as I gave them plenty of room to move and roam, as long as made sure they had plenty to eat and drink, the animals thrived and multiplied (without antibiotics).

The reason I heard all about these diseases that my animals never got was because they are so common with animals that are over stressed by overcrowding, under feeding, filth and restricted access to natural foods.

The salmonella egg infection that had the massive recall was due to chickens with salmonella inside them. How could salmonella get inside a healthy chicken I wondered. Could my chickens be carriers? Turns out a chicken has to be sick to lay a sick egg. When you keep hens confined in tight little cages with hundreds and thousands of other confined chickens disease can spread like wildfire. Antibiotics are routinely pumped into those chickens to keep them from spreading disease. But it turns out if you just raise them right, you don't need to pump them through with antibiotics and your eggs don't get salmonella.

Since I have been raising my own food, I rarely get sick anymore. Maybe once a year I'll get the flu but the last 2 years I didn't even get that. I garden naturally, I raise my animals in their natural environments and I am much healthy for it (and so are my customers).