80 Percent of U.S. Antibiotics Wind Up in Meat

Riddle me this: Where do most U.S. antibiotics wind up?

If you guessed school kids, teachers, the elderly, or people with compromised immune systems, you'd be wrong. According to Food Safety News, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) confirmed numbers last week that show that 80 percent of antibiotics used in the U.S. go to animal agriculture. In other words, look down at your plate — this is your meat on drugs.

Many of the animals receiving meds aren't actually sick, though. Rather, they're treated with antibiotics to promote growth or prevent illnesses that originate as the result of the deplorable factory farm conditions the creatures are kept in. Overdrugging livestock is Big Ag's solution to avoid cleaning up these gross environments.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) finds all kinds of drugs in the tissues of animals about to be sold as food. Recently, the agency found residues of an anti-parasitic drug in goat tissue. While the drug was intended for animal use, the presence of the drug in the goat's tissues means that the FDA considers the meat adulterated by law. More frighteningly, as we found out recently with supermarket chicken, the drugs found in animal tissues are oftentimes the exact same ones a doctor might prescribe for sick people, a situation that spurs the growth of antibiotic-resistant diseases. With the FDA confirming statistics for antibiotic use, Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY) plans to reintroduce a bill that would limit the use of human antibiotic drugs in livestock.

Overuse of antibiotics carries with it serious repercussions, and the human health risks involved can't be understated. Perhaps the biggest risk of overdrugging animals is that it leads to a rise in antibiotic-resistant diseases in people. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling antibiotic resistance one of the three greatest threats to human health right now. One particularly gnarly incarnation of antibiotic resistance is Methicillin-resistent Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which kills 19,000 people in the U.S. every year.

One organization in particular that should stand against misuse of antibiotics in animals is the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). The association's mission states that its purpose is to "improve animal and human health." In other words, AVMA should be in favor of fighting against the cramming of animals into small, filthy quarters and other deplorable factory farm conditions. The organization should also oppose the overdrugging of livestock kept in these conditions.

But instead of standing against these crimes against animals, AVMA is fighting for the continued overuse of antibiotics in factory farms — to the detriment of animals and consumers. Sign our petition, and let the organization know that its support of widespread antibiotic use on factory farms is simply unacceptable.

Photo credit: CALM Action via Flickr