Animal Place is compiling resources on farmed animals, from antibiotic-resistance to behavior to environmental degradation. This post includes information on antibiotic resistance and its ties to the use of antibiotics in animal agriculture. Posting these resources does not indicate endorsement of authors, organizations or all the content therein. This is not meant to be a definitive list.
If you have suggestions on other links related to antibiotic resistance and livestock, please feel free to leave us a message in the comment section.
The American Society of Microbiology
Antibiotic Resistance: An Ecological Perspective on an Old Problem
.pdf or executive summary
MRSA found in poultry
Johns Hopkins
Farmacology
The Farm/Food/Health Connection (powerpoint presentation, general)
Fate of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in stored poultry litter
Environmental Health Perspectives
Antibiotic Resistance in Livestock - more at stake than steak
.pdf or pubmed entry
Health Observatory
Antibiotic Use in US Aquaculture
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Antibiotic Growth Promoters in Livestock
Responsible Use of Antibiotics in Aquaculture
Antibiotic Use in Aquaculture and Antimicrobial Resistance
United States Department of Agriculture
Antimicrobial Drug Use and Veterinary Costs in U.S. Livestock Production
World Health Organization
Use of antimicrobials outside human medicine
Center for Science in the Public Interest
Antibiotic Resistance and Animal Agriculture Fact Sheet
Rodale Institute
Water, antibiotics and "Animal Farm"
Science Daily
MRSA Found in Swine Workers, Pigs
Poultry Consumption, Handling are Risk Factors in Antibiotic Resistance in Humans
Spreading Antibiotics in the Soil Affects Microbial Ecosystems
Routine Feeding of Antibiotics to Livestock May be Contaminating the Environment
University of Minnesota
Antibiotic losses in runoff and drainage from manure-applied fields
The Pew Charitable Trust
Antibiotic resistance in humans
TIME
Getting real about the high price of food
Environmental Health News
Crops absorb livestock antibiotics
Showing posts with label antibiotics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label antibiotics. Show all posts
Farmacology: Antibiotic resistance
A very provocative article in the most recent edition of Johns Hopkins Magazine entitled "Farmacology".
For decades, the livestock industry has perpetrated a grave injustice by providing subtherapeutic levels of antimicrobials in animal feed. The use of antimicrobials, some the same or in the same family as antibiotics used in humans, increases the growth rate of animals and farmers are always looking for ways to get animals fatter, cheaper and quicker.
Knowledge that subtherapeutic use could increase antibiotic resistant bacteria isn't new. Alexander Fleming warned in 1945 that his discovery, penicillin, when used in doses insufficient to treat disease could create penicillin-resistant bacteria. In 1951, UC Davis scientists published a paper that subtherapeutic use of streptomycin in turkeys resulted in streptomycin-resistant coliform bacteria (within three days, no less).
What is so disturbing about the use of antibiotics in the livestock sector is the abject lack of transparency. There are no federal or state laws that require farmers to share the nutrient content of animal feed nor are there reporting regulations. We don't know how much antibiotics are being used - we just know that it's a lot and that the antibiotics are ending up in our air and water. Best guesses put it at between 17-24 million pounds of antibiotics are used as additives annually (guesses that the pork and broiler industry folks consider outlandishly high, no surprise there).
In the article, an experiment is described in which researchers traveled behind a truck transporting broiler birds to the slaughterhouse. Air measurements for enterococci bacteria were taken before and after. Prior to driving behind these trucks, samples taken from the air and from surfaces in the vehicle showed no antibiotic-resistant enterococci bacteria. After the trip? A quarter of the bacteria were resistant to several antimicrobials, including tetracycline, erythomycin and streptomycin. Scary stuff.
I think the essence of this issue is summed up by a quote at the end from Ellen Silbergeld (PhD) who has done numerous studies on the issues of antibiotic resistance.
Choosing a vegan and vegetarian diet is certainly helpful as it reduces the demand for cheap meat, dairy and eggs. But we must all pull together to stop this - vegans and vegetarians won't be saved from antibiotic resistance when the bacteria can travel from person-person, fly-person or from simply traveling behind a tractor hauling birds to their death.
There are two federal bills that would phase out the use of antimicrobials as additives:
H.R. 1549 and S. 619 - you can ask your respresentatives to co-sponsore the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act by using this form.
You can learn more here at saveantibiotics.org (a website of the Pew Charitable Trusts).
For decades, the livestock industry has perpetrated a grave injustice by providing subtherapeutic levels of antimicrobials in animal feed. The use of antimicrobials, some the same or in the same family as antibiotics used in humans, increases the growth rate of animals and farmers are always looking for ways to get animals fatter, cheaper and quicker.
Knowledge that subtherapeutic use could increase antibiotic resistant bacteria isn't new. Alexander Fleming warned in 1945 that his discovery, penicillin, when used in doses insufficient to treat disease could create penicillin-resistant bacteria. In 1951, UC Davis scientists published a paper that subtherapeutic use of streptomycin in turkeys resulted in streptomycin-resistant coliform bacteria (within three days, no less).
What is so disturbing about the use of antibiotics in the livestock sector is the abject lack of transparency. There are no federal or state laws that require farmers to share the nutrient content of animal feed nor are there reporting regulations. We don't know how much antibiotics are being used - we just know that it's a lot and that the antibiotics are ending up in our air and water. Best guesses put it at between 17-24 million pounds of antibiotics are used as additives annually (guesses that the pork and broiler industry folks consider outlandishly high, no surprise there).
In the article, an experiment is described in which researchers traveled behind a truck transporting broiler birds to the slaughterhouse. Air measurements for enterococci bacteria were taken before and after. Prior to driving behind these trucks, samples taken from the air and from surfaces in the vehicle showed no antibiotic-resistant enterococci bacteria. After the trip? A quarter of the bacteria were resistant to several antimicrobials, including tetracycline, erythomycin and streptomycin. Scary stuff.
I think the essence of this issue is summed up by a quote at the end from Ellen Silbergeld (PhD) who has done numerous studies on the issues of antibiotic resistance.
These are feed additives. It's like using antibiotics as hair dye. We have this practice of permitting the addition of almost any antibiotic that you can think of to animal feed, for no therapeutic purpose, under conditions that absolutely favor the rise of resistancy. We have no controls or management of these wastes. Our food safety system is a shambles. This is a situation that is widely recognized by the World Health Organization, the American Medical Assocation, and by others, and nothing happens! It's astounding to me!.....Thousands of people die annually from antibiotic resistance. Thousands. Now some of it could be due to overuse of antibiotics in the human medical field. But certainly the situation is exacerbated exponentially by using antimicrobials in a manner that is certain to create a friendly environment for resistance.
Sometimes I think we're such a dumb species, we don't deserve to survive on this planet. I mean, how many times do we have to do this?"
Choosing a vegan and vegetarian diet is certainly helpful as it reduces the demand for cheap meat, dairy and eggs. But we must all pull together to stop this - vegans and vegetarians won't be saved from antibiotic resistance when the bacteria can travel from person-person, fly-person or from simply traveling behind a tractor hauling birds to their death.
There are two federal bills that would phase out the use of antimicrobials as additives:
H.R. 1549 and S. 619 - you can ask your respresentatives to co-sponsore the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act by using this form.
You can learn more here at saveantibiotics.org (a website of the Pew Charitable Trusts).
