According to a recent report, about 70% of the antibiotics produced in the USA each year -- nearly 25 million pounds in all -- are fed to healthy
to prevent disease or speed growth. Such ''excessive'' use of antibiotics in livestock is contributing to the growing problem of antibiotic resistance.
'The use of antibiotics in human medicine remains the biggest contributor to the problem of antibiotic resistance, because these drugs act directly on the germs causing human disease. ''But this study suggests the contribution of animal use is likely to be greater than people had thought.''
The report's estimate is far higher than the 17.8 million pounds of antibiotics used in livestock that was reported a year ago by the Animal Health Institute, which represents veterinary drug companies.
The new report, which is on the Web at www.ucsusa.org, estimates that 24.6 million pounds of antibiotics are used for ''non-therapeutic'' purposes in livestock, including:
The numbers are based on the number of animals slaughtered each year and the types and doses of antibiotics approved for them.
This is an absolutely amazing statistic and it is hard to believe that 70% of the antibiotics used are fed to livestock. This is one of the reasons that you really want to get organic meat. Other issues you should be concerned about in your meat would be hormones, if they are fed non-organic food and lastly if they receive any grains. Range (grass) fed animals are the most ideal as they have an optimized ratio of essential fatty acids.
Additionally, there is a movement in Europe to replace the antibiotics with garlic. Yes, garlic. As it is much less expensive and the organisms do not appear to develop resistance to it even over prolonged periods.
I am actually in the process of trying to facilitate that development in the US.
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