Written by B.T. Hill   

Instead of acting on behalf of the American people as it should, the FDA caved to pressure from Congress on antibiotics in meat. If the pharmaceutical lobby didn’t have their hands in this, I’ll eat my shoes!

As reported about a month ago in a previous post on my blog, antibiotic use in food animals is deemed a “precaution” by the meat industry. Nearly 80% of antibiotics produced in this country go to treat healthy animals in the industrial farming CAFOS (concentrated animal feeding operations).

Antibiotics have long been used as growth enhancers in livestock. It is estimated that in 2010, about 50 million pounds of antibiotics were produced in the U.S., with about 70% of them used in cows, chickens and pigs. The pharmaceutical and agricultural lobbyists insist that routine use of antibiotics in meat keeps the animals healthier and meat costs low.

Back in 1977 the FDA issued a warning about antibiotic use in food animals. They cited the use of penicillin and tetracycline in animals raised for food could lead to an antibiotic resistance in humans, especially those who ate commercially produced meat. Pharmaceutical interest groups persuaded the FDA not to carry out any ban. In the 1990s, the Bush administration did nothing to restrict or ban the use of antibiotics despite a growing area of concern in the medical industry.

If you watched the movie “Fresh, The Movie,” farmer Russ Kremer’s story reflects the horrific toll that antibiotic use in meat can take. Mr. Kremer raised hogs and routinely dosed them with antibiotics. He was gored in the leg by a boar, but thinking nothing of it, he said he “poured the blood out of his boot,” and continued on. Two weeks later his leg swelled to twice its size. He had contracted a virulent staph infection. While hospitalized, the doctors threw every common antibiotic they had at the infection to no avail. Finally they used a new drug and were able to quell the infection. Mr. Kremer later had an awakening that he was responsible for this predicament by giving the pigs antibiotics on a daily basis. He also knew that the meat he sold to his customers would be subjecting them to the same antibiotic resistance. He started from scratch, destroying his herd and now raises antibiotic-free animals.

Representative Louise Slaughter, (D, NY) of New York’s 28th District, and also a microbiologist, has proposed a bill in Congress to limit the use of antibiotics in meat. HR1549 Over 300 organizations support this bill.

We need to ask ourselves: do these low, low prices at Wal-Mart or other giant food retailers outweigh the price we are paying in medical costs? Antibiotic resistant mutants like MRSA are a real and dangerous result of antibiotic use in meat.

It’s time we used our muscle of sheer numbers as concerned Americans to insist that the meat industry act in our best interests instead of theirs.

Bev Hill http://www.goodfood4all.wordpress.com