Prescription for Trouble: Using Antibiotics to Fatten Livestock

Comment from the contributor:

From the Union of Concerned Scientists--

The use of antibiotics and other antimicrobials to promote weight gain in chickens, cows, and pigs is a standard practice at most large factory farms. Health experts now link this practice to drug-resistant strains of bacteria and a recent rise in the reported incidence of foodborne illness.

“ If you get food poisoning, will the antibiotic prescribed by your doctor be able to fight the infection? This seems like an age of miracle drugs. Few weeks go by without a news story heralding a promising new drug or drug therapy. Ironically, concealed in the din of information about new drugs looms a health crisis growing out of the loss of old drugs. ”