Antibiotics and the Meat Industry

I ran across an interesting blog posting that contains a very interesting and revealing quote from "the meat industry". Who is the meat industry? In this sense I am referring to the collective group that uses industrial factory methods to produce the vast majority of meat in America today and distribute it through your local grocery store.  In this case, the spokesman is Dave Warner of the National Pork Council.

Here's the link to the blog post.

The quote of interest is this:

“Show us the science that use of antibiotics in animal production is causing this antibiotic resistance,” Dave Warner of the National Pork Council told the Washington Post back in June 2010, responding to a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidance document advising against the sub-therapeutic use of antibiotics in livestock.


Assuming that this is a true quote (I have no way to verify fully), this is a sad state of affairs for our nation and our children. Let's look behind the words and translate. What Dave is actually saying is:  "We are going to continue the practice of routine feeding of antibiotics to animals in spite of the overwhelming evidence that this causes problems and suffering which science has no answer for, because no one can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is a true problem."

But wait.. When is it moral to say you will continue practices that there is a good chance is causing society physical harm, until it is proven definitely bad? There was another industry that took this approach which you may remember.. the tobacco industry. How many years did it take until they gave in to government pressure and admitted that their product harmed people. Is there a parallel here? In both cases, the motivation is  the same.. greed, money, profits.

Morally it is only right to stop a practice that has a decent chance of causing harm. The practice should stop until it can be proven safe. Ironically, this is even true for medicines. Antibiotics themselves can not be administered to people until they are proven to have a low chance of serious side effects, and if side effects do arise, the medicine is quickly pulled form the market. However, with our food supply, it is reversed... antibiotics (the exact same ones used sparingly on humans) are administered on a daily basis to animals we consume.  How does that make sense?

If science knows that antibiotic use creates resistant bacteria, and therefore use of antibiotics is reserved for truly needy cases in humans, why are the same bacteria exposed to the same antibiotics daily for no reason except increased profits for the corporation? This isn't even about farmers... it is about large corporate entities.

Personally I think the constant use of antibiotics is simple immoral, inhumane, and inexcusable in light of the evidence for permanent harm to our children's generation. At Little Sprouts Farm we will never administer routine antibiotics, in fact we do not have or use antibiotics on any animal for any reason.

I urge you to take a stand, for the sake of our next generation, and refuse to buy any meat that you do not know for sure is free of antibiotics. Find a local organic responsible farm and spend your food dollars there, support them, work with them, and be part of the solution. It is really that easy, and it is effective!