Take action to limit antibiotic use in factory farms

I received the following action alert from the Center for Food Safety today. I encourage you to urge your representatives in Washington to support these bills:

Did you know that an estimated 70 percent of all antibiotics used in the United States are regularly added to the feed of livestock and poultry that are not sick—a practice with serious consequences for our health? Bacteria that are constantly exposed to antibiotics develop antibiotic resistance. This means that when humans get sick from resistant bacteria, the antibiotics prescribed by doctors don’t work.

Right now, there are bills in both the House and Senate to address this risky practice - but your representatives need to hear from you in order to get them passed!

Please write to your representatives today and ask them to support the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (H.R. 962/S. 549). With members of Congress who have long supported curbs on antibiotic overuse now heading key congressional committees, the time has never been better to pass this critical legislation.

More information can be found here.

Note that a large portion of the antibiotics fed to livestock and poultry end up in wastewater, flowing into rivers and streams. With this massive overuse of antibiotics by agribusiness, we're essentially creating the perfect opportunity for pathogens throughout the ecosystem to become resistant to some of the best defenses we have for protecting human health.