Drugs in Animal Feed Pose Dire Human Health Risks

Last time you went to the doctor to get antibiotics, you likely received this admonition" "Finish the bottle, even if you start to feel better right away."

So it stands to reason that this concept is also true for animals being given antibiotics. Just like in people, if bacteria is left behind, it can survive and become resistant to medication. If animals are given antibiotics in their feed, the bacteria that caused the infection may become resistant. Antibiotic-resistance in feed animals is becoming a grave issue, as most livestock are given antibiotics in feed indiscriminately, whether they are sick or not. So, it also stands to reason that over time, the antibiotics will become less effective.

According to a new paper, Johns Hopkins scientists and representatives from Animal Welfare Approved agree that if livestock are getting their antibiotic treatments through food, certain animals may be getting too much of a drug (or too little if the animal is legitimately ill). U.S. Rep Louise Slaughter, who is reintroducing legislation to curb the use of medically important antibiotics on factory farms, has likened the practice of medicating feed to giving children a daily dose of antibiotics with their morning Cheerios. According to David Love, project director of Johns Hopkins' Center for a Livable Future and co-author of the paper, healthy animals who consume too high an antibiotic dose from food can become ill or even die.

On the heels of the Johns Hopkins paper comes a new report on antibiotic resistance from a task force involving the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This report addresses the link between antibiotic overuse on factory farms and antibiotic resistance in people. According to Food Safety News,while livestock producers insist there is no link between their overuse of antibiotics and drug resistance in humans, continued exposure in animals to antimicrobials can cause resistant bacteria in fecal matter on farms. Also, many classes of antibiotics used on food animals have "analogues to human therapeutics and are therefore capable of selecting for similar resistance phenotypes."

Plus, antibiotics in feed likely aren't an effective way to treat animals who are actually sick. The animals most needing the treatment aren't going to be the ones most aggressively pushing for food, and therefore, frequently miss an appropriate level of treatment.

The health effects of our overuse of antibiotics are truly dire. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling antibiotic resistance one of the three greatest threats to human health right now. One example is the rise of Methicillin-resistent Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA),which kills 19,000 people in the U.S. every year. The task force report lists off staggering statistics:  Nearly all strains of Staphyloccus aureus in the states are resistant to penicillin, and many are resistant to newer methicillin-related drugs as well. According to the report, "The extensive use of microbial drugs has resulted in drug resistance that threatens to reverse the medical advances of the last half century."

In other words, we need to change our ways — now. While it may not be a simple change, it's clearly necessary that we stop treating healthy animals with antibiotics. We should instead be changing the conditions that our food animals are raised in to prevent disease to begin with.

Rep. Slaughter recently reintroduced the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (HR 965), a bill that would prevent factory farmers from giving livestock antibiotics unless animals are truly sick. You can help stop the spread of antibiotic-resistant diseases by supporting this legislation. Sign our petition asking your Congress members to push for HR 965 to pass.

Photo credit: Just chaos via Flickr