Intelligence Report - March 2, 2008

GOVERNMENT WATCH - Taking Antibiotics Out of Our Meat

Congress has decided to weigh in on what your meat eats. Sens. Ted Kennedy (D., Mass.) and Olympia Snowe (R., Maine) introduced a bill to end the practice of feeding antibiotics used to cure human illnesses to chickens, cattle, sheep and pigs. Why are animals fed medications? To prevent, treat and control disease, according to the Animal Health Institute (AHI), a group that supports antibiotic use. “Animals, like humans, come down with illnesses, and antibiotics keep them healthy,” says AHI Vice President Ron Phillips. But opponents say the drugs are given primarily to promote growth and prevent disease, even in thriving livestock. “Farmers should not feed them to animals that aren’t sick,” says Richard Wood of the Keep Antibiotics Working Coalition, “just as people should not take antibiotics if they are not sick.” Studies have linked animal use to increased antibiotic resistance in humans. In response to these concerns, McDonald’s has told its direct poultry suppliers to refrain from using antibiotics for growth that also are used in people. Tyson Foods, the nation’s largest meat processor, now is marketing chicken that has a label saying it was raised without human antibiotics. In addition, all meat bearing the green “USDA organic” seal has been verified by federally certified inspectors to come from animals that were never fed antibiotics.

Source: Parade