by Avery Yale Kamila
Published in SOSUpdate
(SOS Update, April 2002) It's a good day for chickens and a bad day for
antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Poultry producers Tyson Foods, Perdue Farms, Gold Kist
and Foster Farms have all announced their intentions to either reduce or eliminate the
use of antibiotics in healthy birds.
At the same time, McDonald's, Wendy's, Popeyes and T.G.I. Friday's will no
longer buy chicken that has been treated with the antibiotics known as Fluoroquinolones. Fluoroquinolones
include the brand names Cipro and Levaquin.
For years, physicians and scientists have warned of the rapid spread of
antibiotic-resistant bacteria. When bacteria are exposed to antibiotics, some
mutate and are no longer affected by the drugs.
When this happens, physicians are left with few options to treat sick patients.
Experts point to two primary causes of this medical crisis: the overuse of antibiotics
in livestock farming, and the use of antibiotics to treat
non-bacterial infections, such as those caused by viruses.
Healthcare providers have encountered antibiotic-resistant strains of E. coli,
Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae, among others.
The Union of Concerned Scientists reports that an estimated 70 percent of
antibiotics produced in the U.S. are fed to healthy chickens, pigs and cows.
The United States does little to limit the types of antibiotics that are given
to livestock.
In contrast, the European Union restricts livestock antibiotic use to four
antibiotics that are not used to treat humans.
|
