Want some meds with that burger?

IMeat industry unhappy over limiting the use of antibiotics

For decades, factory farms have used antibiotics even in healthy animals to promote faster growth and prevent diseases that could sicken livestock held in confined quarters.
The benefit: cheaper, more plentiful meat for consumers.
But a firestorm has erupted over a federal proposal recommending antibiotics only when animals are actually sick.
Medical and public health experts in recent years say overuse and misuse of antibiotics pose a serious public health threat by creating new strains of bacteria that are difficult to treat - both in animals and humans.
"Over time, we have created some monster bugs," said Russ Kremer, a Bonnots Mill, Mo., farmer who speaks nationally about the threat to the food supply. "It is truly harmful to everyone to feed antibiotics to animals just for growth promotion and economic gain."
But the meat industry argues that the draft guidelines from the Food and Drug Administration are premature. It says there is not enough evidence to show a clear link between the use of antibiotics in livestock and health problems in humans.

Cheaper plentiful meat is a benefit? What about the drugs in the meat? The only solution: eat your veggies! Even better yet: eat your own-raised veggies!
Know where you food comes from, how it was grown/raised, what's in it.

More reasons...

vegetarian or at least know where and how your chickens are raised.
More Factory Farming Means More Antibiotic-Resistant Urinary Tract Infections

Chalk up yet another reason to oppose factory farming: BBC News reports that scientists from the University of Hong Kong have found evidence that overuse of antibiotics on farm animals is leading to an increase in antibiotic-resistant human urinary tract infections.

Factory Meals

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Jonathan Safran Foer
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Foer's "Eating Animals"

Jonathan Safron Foer, the author of 'Everything is Illuminated' has been following Michael Pollan's lead as of late--his latest book is called 'Eating Animals', and it calls for, among other things, a closer examination of our nation's food system. He sat down with Stephen Colbert last night, and explained, among other things, why hot dog makers won't eat hot dogs. And then Colbert ate a huge pile of bacon in front of him.


Along with a call to eat less meat, a reassessment of our food labeling process, and an urging to reconsider the factory farming complex that dominates our nation's food industry Safron Foer raises some pretty good points....

Cover of Eating Animals

I haven't read Foer's new book, but he makes some points in dire need of better publicity--our food system is a giant mess. It shouldn't be acceptable to pump animals full of antibiotics to get them to grow faster and more cheaply--for ethical reasons as well as human health reasons. As Foer notes, people are actually getting sick from the practice--and the longer term detriments are still largely unknown.


But as Pollan says, we all get three votes a day to push for healthier food--every time we sit down to a meal. So don't feel too unpatriotic turning down that hot dog.

So drop that dog, drop that chalupa, drop that burger and raise your veggieburger high!