Keep antibiotics off your plate!
Next time you bite into a pork chop or enjoy chicken salad this summer, you might want to thank Uncle Sam and the pharmaceutical industry for that special ingredient in your meat — antibiotics.That's right! Up to 80% of all antibiotics sold in the U.S. are used in industrial animal confinements for chicken, beef and hogs at sub-therapeutic levels, not to treat disease, but to make the animals grow faster. While this practice has slightly increased profit for livestock producers, doctors have found that overuse of antibiotics in livestock feed is putting human health at serious risk.
According to the landmark "Antibiotic Resistance Threat Report" published by the Centers for Disease Control last year, 2 million American adults and children become infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria each year, and at least 23,000 die as a direct result of infections. Tragically, even more die from complications. This is alarming and it has to stop.By adding a small amount of antibiotics in the feed or water daily, livestock producers not only promote faster growth, but also try to make up for the overcrowding and unsanitary conditions of factory farms. In recent decades, medical doctors and public health scientists have become alarmed at the steady rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that no longer respond to frontline antibiotics to treat disease in humans and have found proof that overuse of unnecessary antibiotics in factory farms is contributing to this growing problem.
Unbelievably, last year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a proposed Veterinary Feed Directive, or VFD, that allows agribusiness to continue to feed antibiotics to healthy livestock and poultry, putting our health at risk. Instead of putting human health first and calling for the mandatory elimination of sub-therapeutic use, the FDA is calling for “voluntary” measures to curb antibiotic usage by agribusiness giants. This is outrageous! What we don’t need now is another set of toothless suggestions by the FDA when antibiotic-resistant "Superbugs" are on the rise.
For the past several years, mainstream medical and scientific groups like the American Medical Association, the World Health Organization, Union of Concerned Scientists and The Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming have called for an end to this practice of using antibiotics for growth promotion because of the rise of new “Superbugs”. To speak u you clan visit:
http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/go/1216?t=12&akid=1171.290872.bGwNbj
