| November
9, 2004: Antibiotics are microorganism-produced
chemicals that kill or stop the growth of other bacteria
or fungi. They are miraculous tools for previously difficult-to-control
deadly bacterial pathogens responsible for serious human
diseases.
Although antibiotics were specifically designed for
treating human health emergencies, their use for raising
livestock animals has proliferated. In the cattle, swine,
and poultry industries, massive amounts of antibiotics
are routinely mixed into feed in order to promote growth
rather than combat disease and as prophylactic treatment
to offset unnatural diets and unhealthy living conditions.
Prophylactic and otherwise unnecessary uses of antibiotics
abound in human medicine as well. U.S.-raised animals
in the 1950s received 2 million pounds per year of antibiotics
in their feed compared to 50 million pounds today—a
2,500-percent increase. A large percentage of these
drugs pass into the environment. (An EPA analysis revealed
that as much as 80 percent of orally administered antibiotics
pass through animals and humans unutilized.) (Editor's
Note: The FDA recently approved another non-medicinal
use for an antibiotic by allowing dairy farmers to use
Rumensin® to increase milk production efficiency.
Read more>)
A landmark 2002 U.S. Geological Survey report turned
up dozens of pharmaceuticals and other chemicals in
America’s streams and rivers. Colorado State University
associate professor of civil engineering Ken Carlson
led a recent two-year study pinpointing concentrated
animal feeding operations (CAFOs) as major contributors
to high antibiotic levels in the Cache la Poudre River
in Colorado. The presence of the ionophore class of
antibiotics found downstream from CAFOs offered conclusive
proof of their origin, since these antibiotics are not
used in human applications. Statistics show that close
to half of all antibiotics used are employed in agriculture.
With these animal applications of antibiotics, their
efficacy for humans is jeopardized by increased development
of resistant bacteria.
Colorado State’s Professor Carlson stressed the
need for management practices that minimize the environmental
release of antibiotics. In recent years, the American
Medical Association, the American Public Health Association,
and the New England Journal of Medicine have all come
out officially favoring a ban on the use of antibiotics
that have human applications for use in animal feeds
as growth stimulants. (Organic producers do not use
antibiotics, relying instead on sound animal husbandry
practices such as providing sanitary living conditions,
fresh air, and proper diets.)
To illustrate the sad state of antibiotic abuse in
our animal-based food, Consumer Reports released a study
of store-bought chicken, testing 484 fresh samples in
25 cities. The human bacterial pathogen Campylobacter
jejuni was present in 42 percent of the samples, with
66 percent of the strains showing resistance to antibiotics.
As Stanley Katz of Rutger’s Cook College put it
bluntly, “I see a lot of unnecessary deaths [from
this situation]; that’s what I see!”
Ellen Silbergeld, professor of environmental health
sciences at Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School
of Public Health, has been studying the medical risks
of large-scale, concentrated poultry production in the
Delmarva Peninsula (which includes portions of Delaware,
Maryland, and Virginia). Dr. Silbergeld found that 40
percent of chicken harvest laborers (also called catchers)
in CAFOs in that region tested positive for Campylobacter
bacteria, an infection that causes cramps, diarrhea,
stomach pain and fever. “Industrialized food is
not a pretty picture,” she commented.
In 1986, 1998, and 1999 respectively, Sweden, Denmark,
and the European Union banned growth-promoting use of
four antibiotics used to treat human infections. As
early as 1977, the FDA asked Congress to restrict the
use of penicillin and tetracycline in animal feed. Under
strong lobbying from the poultry industry, these efforts
did not succeed. The National Academy of Sciences found
“a link between the use antibiotics and animal
feed and the development of bacterial resistance to
these drugs and human disease.” Still, no positive
action has been taken on this front.
While Congress has found no political will to protect
the food system, fast-food giants under public scrutiny
such as Wendy’s, Popeye’s and McDonald’s
have ordered their large contract suppliers of beef
and chicken to stop putting antibiotics used for human
disease control into animal feed.
Consumers concerned about this epidemic of antibiotic
abuse can take positive action by buying certified-organic
animal products. In this way, they avoid the outrageous
medications that conventional animals receive and do
not become an unknowing party to the contamination of
our water system with antibiotics.
Dr. Stanley Katz of Rutgers University has likened
the present industrialized animal production system
as something akin to George Orwell’s Animal
Farm. The animals are taking revenge for their
mistreatment under industrial management by spinning
out antibiotic-resistant pathogens and waste into our
environment. We only have ourselves to blame.
It’s time we put animals back onto pasture under
healthy diets and natural conditions, thus serving them
and ourselves well. When we domesticated animals, we
entered into a contract with them; at this point, we
have defaulted upon that contract and are paying the
consequences.
For more information, check out some of the following:
Bonné, Jon. 2004. Livestock antibiotics found
in waterways. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6299642/
Carlson et al. 2004. Antibiotics used for growth in
food animals making their way into waterways. www.newswise.com/p/articles/view/507755/
Environmental Media Services. 2004. Agricultural use
of antibiotics. http://www.ems.org/antibiotics/antibiotics_food.html
Lazaroff, Cat. 2002. Drugs, chemicals pollute U.S.
waterways. http://www.rioweb.org/Archive/year2002/March02/
ens_drugschemicals031302.html
Nutt, Amy Ellis. 2003. In soil, water, food and air.
www.factoryfarming.com/news_starledger.htm
USGS. 2002. Pharmaceuticals, hormones, and other organic
wastewater contaminants in U. S. streams, 1999-2000:
A national reconnaissance. http://toxics.usgs.gov/regional/emc.html
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