Industrial Farm Use of Antibiotics Up 67%

[kate]

If more people understood what dangerous garbage -- like massive antibiotics -- was being fed to industrially farmed animals (not to mention plants and veggies) I feel certain they'd be joining the folks at Occupy Wall Street in protesting mightily these scams that hurt the citizen and reward the corporate owner, secretly!

This is also affecting our children in a very bad way. Here's an excerpt from The Hill story. Link follows. Read it and weep.

.......Some health experts worry that the nation's widespread use of antibiotics on farms puts people at risk by increasing the number of drug-resistant bacteria and making antibiotics less effective. The food and drug industries say restricting their use would cause more animals to get sick, hurt agricultural profits and also create a risk for consumers.

"This report confirms what we already know: Industrial farms are using antibiotics on a massive scale that far exceeds what doctors are using to treat sick people," said Laura Rogers, project director for the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming. "As a result, infections are becoming more difficult and expensive to treat. The time for the Administration to protect our health is long overdue."

http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/food-safety/190557-rising-farm-use-of-antibiotics-prompts-renewed-push-for-federal-restrictions

[zararina]

It was really alarming that "modern" foods could mean not safe foods. A lot had been using modernized ways in cultivating our food such as using antibiotics and fertilizers. Hard to have now organic foods since this kind of food is rare and often expensive. If we could really grow some foods on our backyard to at last have some "safe foods. But definitely space, time and weather are problems or hindrances for it.

[Simon]

This is an important issue. We really need to stop the heavy use of antibiotics in the meat industry but also more generally so that we don't create any nasty and resistant bacteria. If the animals really get so sick that they need antibiotics it just shows how bad we are treating them and how bad the their welfare is.

[Jabsfreelanceworld]

Can someone explain a little bit further? Does this have anything to do with the fact that antibiotics might also kill of "good" bacterial used to fight off diseases? I wasn't quite sure, but at least I am being made more aware of what affect the use of antibiotics in meat production could do. I know that users of these medicines (even animals) could become indeed resistant as a result of long-term use.

[NoNukes]

Can someone explain a little bit further? Does this have anything to do with the fact that antibiotics might also kill of "good" bacterial used to fight off diseases? I wasn't quite sure, but at least I am being made more aware of what affect the use of antibiotics in meat production could do. I know that users of these medicines (even animals) could become indeed resistant as a result of long-term use.

Nah man. It's mainly about the dangerous bacteria becoming more resistant to anti-biotics. We can already see this happening. :unsure:

[Isabellas2007]

The antibiotic use in the industrial farms is terrible. I know if you have some organic meat from a farmer you can really tell the difference. However, I know the stock yards are rampant with bacteria and the closeness of the animals requires this type of antibiotic use. This does not mean that people should just lay down and accept this as the only way to get the best tasting foods around because it is not and generally when the meats are stocked full of antibiotics only makes it easier for the bacteria to make us sicker without a cure.