Farm Animals Hog 80 Percent of U.S. Antibiotics

[marmar]

via truthdig:



Farm Animals Hog 80 Percent of U.S. Antibiotics
Posted on Dec 27, 2010


The overuse of antibiotics can lead to drug-resistant superbugs, so it’s cause for concern to the folks at Johns Hopkins’ Center for a Livable Future that the vast majority of bug-killing drugs aren’t even consumed by sick humans.

Center for a Livable Future via Wired:

In accordance with a 2008 amendment to the Animal Drug User Fee Act, for the first time the FDA released last week an annual amount of antimicrobial drugs sold and distributed for use in food animals. The grand total for 2009 is 13.1 million kilograms or 28.8 million pounds. I found the stories covering this revelation interesting, but they did not convey the whole picture. It is important to understand how this amount compares to the total available for people. So, I decided to find out for myself and contacted the FDA for an estimate of the volume of antibiotics sold for human use in 2009. This is what a spokesperson told me:

“Our Office of Surveillance and Epidemiology just finished an analysis based on IMS Health data. Sales data in kilograms sold for selected antibacterial drugs were obtained as a surrogate of human antibacterial drug use in the U.S. market. Approximately 3.3 million kilograms of antibacterial drugs were sold in year 2009. OSE states that all data in this analysis have been cleared for public use by IMS Health, IMS National Sales Perspectives™.”

3.3 million kilograms is a little over 7 million pounds. As far as I can determine, this is the first time the FDA has made data on estimates of human usage public. Below is a breakdown of the FDA numbers prepared by my colleague, Dr. David Love, also from the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, which compares the estimated amounts of human usage with food animal usage.

Read more

http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/farm_animals_hog_80_percent_of_us_antibiotics_20101227/

[flvegan]

1. Some say

the vast majority of people *could* simply stop eating them.

Just making an observation, not telling anyone what to do.

:popcorn: <---- No animals, so dig in.

edit: forgot a word

[delightfulstar]

2. If we "have" to load these animals with antibiotics and hormones...

...then that probably explains some of the other human health issues that can be traced to our food supply, IMHO. There are also very disturbing environmental effects from the chemicals that are pumped into animals and growing fields. Factory farms are scary places, and I personally notice a huge difference in quality between food that is factory raised, and that which is raised in a more natural, humane manner.

Read on...

http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/hormones/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/meat/safe/overview.html
http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2010/06/29/meat-and-antibiotics-getting-our-animals-off-drugs/
http://www.northernexpress.com/editorial/features.asp?id=5061
http://www.ota.com/organic/benefits/antibiotics.html

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Not to worry. They end up in our bodies eventually......

:mad: :puke: :grr: :nuke: :banghead:

and THAT is one of the ways we get antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria....

[K8-EEE]

4. I think the question is not "can/should humans eat meat?"

But "OMG look what a filthy, gross, disgusting business the meat industry has become -- look what meds and poisons you are ingesting!" Really I think Sarah has it right, go shoot something and put it in the freezer if you want to eat meat every day. At least it hasn't been subjected to the unhealthy and inhumane conditions in factory farming.

[Karenina]

5. Oh please. This has been an issue since the late 50's

It's a FUCKING HALF CENTURY LATER and the forces of $$$ have continued to block any coherent discussion of the matter. It's just one of the reasons I have concluded that mankind is too STOOPID to live. How 'bout that plastic in the Pacific gyre, eh?

Sometimes I laugh at the absurdity, sometimes I cry at the tragedy of what might have been. Mostly I eschew emotional involvement and can only manage a :eyes:

[azul]

6. Hay, how did they get such good health insurance?

Many people have to go without antibiotics, all around the world. And here we are in the USA with cattle and pigs and chickens that are as healthy as horses.