Isn't it disgusting that we can't feed ourselves without doing this? Well, I guess we could, it would just cost more, maybe a few cents a pound.
By Allison Aubrey
August 5, 2011 | NPR
[...]
So how did this happen? Farmers who raise food-producing animals use about 29 million pounds of antibiotics each year, according to the Food and Drug Administration. That's about four times as much as doctors prescribe to people.
"Animals are given antibiotics for a number of reasons — including to get them to grow faster," explains Gail Hansen, a veterinarian who works for the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming. "[Antibiotics] are given to perfectly healthy animals to convert their food more efficiently so they can get to market faster."
And she says this practice of routinely adding low doses of medicines to animal feed is creating bacteria resistant to antibiotics.
Salmonella Heidelberg — the strain that has made [at least 78] people sick and led to the recall of ground turkey meat — is resistant to three different antibiotics: ampicillin, streptomycin and tetracycline.
[...]
"We really believe that the responsible use of antibiotics to provide safe, nutritious, affordable foods is the appropriate way to go," said Sherrie Rosenblatt, vice president of the National Turkey Federation.
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