Antibiotics are routinely given to animals on industrial farms to promote growth or prevent diseases that result from overcrowded and unsanitary conditions.

Eighty percent of the antibiotics sold in the U.S. are used in animal agriculture. The vast majority are for non-therapeutic purposes, such as promoting growth and compensating for the effects of unsanitary and overcrowded conditions. The amount of antibiotics used in animal agriculture is estimated to be more than four times the amount of drugs used to treat human illness.

Many of the antibiotics used in food animal production, such as penicillins, tetracyclines, macrolides and sulfonamides are identical to, or from the same family as, drugs used in human medicine to cure serious diseases. Because these classes of antibiotics are similar, bacteria resistant to antibiotics used in animals will also be resistant to antibiotics used in humans. Without effective antibiotics, modern medical treatments such as surgery and transplants will become all but impossible.According to the Interagency Task Force on Antimicrobial Resistance, which is co-chaired by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health, treatable diseases like pneumonia, meningitis and tuberculosis may again become untreatable.

When bacteria are exposed to antibiotics on a regular basis, they go into survival mode and develop traits to protect themselves. In other words, what doesn’t kill bacteria makes them stronger. These antibiotic-resistant bacteria are known as “superbugs.”

• People can become infected with antibiotic resistant bugs by eating undercooked contaminated meat, or using utensils that have come in contact with raw meat juices.
• Food animals can shed resistant bacteria in their feces or milk.
• Contaminated manure can be used as fertilizer on crops. This is how bacteria commonly found in animal feces, such as E. coli and Salmonella, end up in non-animal products such as spinach or peanuts.
• Manure from one animal species can also be used as a feed additive for another (e.g., chicken litter is fed to cattle), which can spread harmful bacteria if the manure is not composted properly.
 
• Bacteria that live in animal intestines can spill out and contaminate meat, workers and equipment during slaughter and processing.
• Runoff from factory farms – made worse after heavy rains – can carry antibiotic-resistant bacteria into the drinking water supply.
• Studies have shown airborne antibiotic resistant bacteria can travel several miles, carried by the wind, when industrial farm facilities are vented.

 Antibiotic-resistant bacteria can keep people sicker longer, and some people may not be able to recover at all. Children, the elderly, and those with weakened immune systems (including cancer, HIV/AIDS, and transplant patients) are particularly vulnerable because their immune systems are not as vigorous as those of healthy adults.One of the most common antibiotic-resistant pathogens is MRSA (Methicillin Resistant Staphyoloccus Aureus), which kills more people every year than AIDS. In the U.S. alone 19,000 die from MRSA each year, and another 369,000 are hospitalized because of it. The World Health Organization calls MRSA the most important health issue of the 21st century. Recently a strain of MRSA has emerged in farm animals that also infects humans. This type of MRSA has been associated with antibiotics given to the animals. [1] According to a study from the Translational Genomics Research Institute, nearly half of the meat and poultry samples sold in grocery stores — 47 percent — were contaminated withStaphylococcus aureus, and more than half of those bacteria — 52 percent — were resistant to at least three classes of antibiotics.

The American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention all warn that the routine use of human antibiotics in farm animals presents a serious and growing danger to human health because it creates new strains of deadly antibiotic-resistant bacteria.The Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics has estimated, based on a study conducted at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, that antibiotic-resistant bacteria generate $16.6 billion to $26 billion per year in extra costs to the U.S. health care system.

To raise animals without antibiotics, farmers must employ practices that promote health, such as a clean environment, adequate space for animals to roam, a 100% vegetarian diet and natural probiotics to boost digestive health. In fact, the USDA acknowledged in a January 2009 report that the economic and production benefits of antibiotics in animal feed can be largely achieved by improved cleanliness of animal houses and improved testing for diseases. At Applegate, our growers have been raising animals for us without antibiotics for more than 20 years, proving that it is a successful and scalable model for meat production. If an animal becomes sick, it’s removed from the group, treated, and sold through conventional meat channels. Less than 1% of the animals raised for Applegate ever need to be administered antibiotics.

The current definition for “natural” meat does not include any standards for how animals are raised for food. Animals raised in confinement, fed a diet of bakery waste or animal by-products, or administered daily doses of antibiotics and hormones, can all be sold as natural meat. In contrast, Applegate’s definition of “natural” includes the following: 

• No antibiotics or hormones
• A vegetarian grain or 100% grass diet
• Humane animal standards
• No chemical nitrites, nitrates, or phosphates
• No artificial ingredients or preservatives

Currently, there is no labeling standard in the United States to alert consumers about an animal’s antibiotic intake, either for growth or medicinal reasons. However, there are organic and antibiotic-free meats on the market, which come from animals that have never received such medicines. Meat manufacturers who raise animals without antibiotics will make claims on their labels such as “Antibiotic-free” or “No Antibiotics Used.” If a label is not clear, a consumer should call the manufacturer and ask.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) testified before Congress last year that there was a definitive link between the routine, non-therapeutic uses of antibiotics on industrial farms and the crisis of antibiotic resistance in humans. To date, there has been no significant action taken by the FDA, USDA or the Administration regarding the use of antibiotics in animal agriculture. Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), Congress’s only microbiologist reintroduced PAMTA, the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act, to the House this year. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), also reintroduced PAMTA this year in the 112th Congress. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Jack Reed (D-RI) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA) were co-sponsors of the legislation.

PAMTA would do the following:

• Ban non-therapeutic use of antibiotics important to human medicine for use in animals raised for food. NOTE: PAMTA would NOT prohibit the use of antibiotics to treat sick animals.
• Require that the FDA deny the use of any new antibiotic drugs for use on animals unless the federal government is certain the drugs will not contribute to antibiotic resistance in humans.

Consumers can do the following:

• Citizens Against Superbugs
• Encourage retailers to expand their selection of antibiotic-free meat and poultry
• Purchase antibiotic-free meat and poultry
• Let your representatives know that you support PAMTA