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According to the FDA, close to 80% of the antibiotics used in this country are not used for people but for livestock. Why, you may ask, are we giving so many millions of pounds of antibiotics to livestock animals? Most of it is for non-therapeutic purposes, to promote feed efficiency and animal growth. And while society at large is unaware and unworried about this issue, the livestock sector’s use of antibiotics is a major cause of antibiotic resistance according to experts in the field. The problem is that the livestock sector is (1) the largest user of antibiotics in the world, and (2) most of this use consists of subtherapeutic dosages, just to promote feed efficiency. This means the bacteria living in animals gets exposed low dosages of antibiotics without the bacteria getting killed, so these bacteria have the opportunity to develop mechanisms of resistance against those antibiotics. This is a very serious public health concern. On one hand, people who eat animal foods are being exposed to antibiotic resistant bacteria by eating animal foods. Also, in general, antibiotic resistance is a serious issue that can render many antibiotics ineffective generally. For more information on this important topic please Google and read the paper from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health entitled, “Industrial Food Animal Production, Antimicrobial Resistance And Public Health”. For this, and countless other important reasons (including the environment, the animals, and your own health), please stop consuming animal products forever and for good. |