Subscribe to Receive the Daily Report

Saturday, April 11th, 2015

While the superbug crisis grows, the meat industry is using more human antibiotics than ever

Author:     Lindsay Abrams
Source:     Salon
Publication Date:     Friday, Apr 10, 2015 12:49 PM PDT
Link: While the superbug crisis grows, the meat industry is using more human antibiotics than ever
Stephan:   This is what happens when industries take over and own the regulatory agencies that are supposed to oversee them. It is also what happens when wellness is not a consideration in the business model used. Anyone who bothers to look at the superbug issue and the collapse of antibiotic medicine knows what is going on. Maybe we are just too weak or stupid to make choices that will allow our culture to survive.
Grossly overcrowded cattle must be dosed with increasing amounts of antibiotics in order to overcoming their poor living conditions. Credit: Shutterstock

Grossly overcrowded cattle must be dosed with increasing amounts of antibiotics in order to overcoming their poor living conditions.
Credit: Shutterstock

The meat industry is buying up more and more medically important antibiotics, threatening human health in its quest to ramp up the factory farm model to meet the demand for pork, chicken and beef.

New FDA data shows that sales of human antibiotics for use in livestock jumped 20 percent between 2009 and 2013, in keeping with past trends.

It’s in keeping, too, with projections for global antibiotic use by the meat sector, which experts say could increase by as much as 67 percent by 2030. It’s a problem, because industry abuse of the drugs is understood to contribute to the antibiotic resistance crisis — superbugs formed on the feedlot are capable of spreading to human populations.

The FDA cautions that its data is from 2013, before its new, voluntary standards for […]

Read the Full Article