Report: Overuse
of Livestock Drugs
Poses Superbug Risk
Alternatives to Subtherapeutic Antibiotics
Successfully Utilized by Farmers
Contact:
Brian DeVore,
612-729-6294
12/18/02
WHITE BEAR LAKE, Minn.—The feeding of antibiotics to livestock
has revolutionized meat, poultry and dairy production. But there is increasing
evidence that such a practice threatens to return us to the "dark
ages" of health care, when people died of simple infections due to
a lack of effective bacteria killers.
"Antibiotics,
Agriculture & Resistance" is a special Land Stewardship
Project report that examines how large-scale industrialized livestock
production is contributing to the development of bacteria that resist
being killed by antibiotics. Today, livestock in the U.S. are fed more
than 24 million pounds of antibiotics for purposes other than treating
disease, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. As the LSP report
outlines, this massive use of antibiotics at low levels is creating the
perfect environment for the development of drug-resistant bacteria. Medical
journals have published several studies in recent years showing an increasing
link between medicated feeding of livestock and the development of superbugs.
"Antibiotics,
Agriculture & Resistance," which originally appeared as
a series of articles in 2002 editions of the Land
Stewardship Letter, reports on the latest research, as well as
what livestock farmers are doing to get off the antibiotic treadmill.
Midwestern farmers using alternative methods such as management intensive
rotational grazing, pasture farrowing and deep-straw bedding are having
success producing livestock without subtherapeutic antibiotics. The LSP
report also wrestles with the question of whether new "drug-free"
labels give consumers a complete picture of what production methods are
being used.
A free copy
of "Antibiotics, Agriculture
& Resistance" is available as a pdf document. Paper
copies of the 12-page report are $5.00. For information on purchasing
a paper copy, call 651-653-0618.
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