Enjoy your turkey dinner

Drugged-Up Turkey

As families across America adorn their dinner tables with plump, juicy turkeys this Thursday, they've likely given little thought to what their future food previously consumed.
By the end of this year, an estimated 248 million turkeys will have been raised in the U.S., approximately 83 percent on farms that produce more than 60,000 turkeys each and most eating a diet that includes low doses of antibiotics. This common agricultural practice results not only in more meaty birds, according to experts, but also in greater risks to public health.
"Antibiotic use in animals comes back to haunt people," said Stuart Levy, a Tufts University microbiology professor who focuses on antibiotic resistance. He recently co-authored a review of the evidence showing how animal antibiotics affect human health -- via direct contact and indirectly via food, water, air and anywhere manure goes.
Levy and other experts warn that the widespread use of antibiotics to treat sick livestock, prevent the spread of disease in cramped conditions or simply promote animal growth has fueled the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which is making many infections in humans harder to treat.

Makes your mouth water doesn't it?