” Major U.S. poultry firms are administering antibiotics to their flocks far more pervasively than regulators realize, posing a potential risk to human health.
Internal records examined by Reuters reveal that some of the nation’s largest poultry producers routinely feed chickens an array of antibiotics – not just when sickness strikes, but as a standard practice over most of the birds’ lives.
In every instance of antibiotic use identified by Reuters, the doses were at the low levels that scientists say are especially conducive to the growth of so-called superbugs, bacteria that gain resistance to conventional medicines used to treat people. Some of the antibiotics belong to categories considered medically important to humans. ”
continue reading Reuters Investigation Farmaceuticals, The drugs fed to farm animals and the risks posed to humans, includes:
- Pervasive use fuels concerns about impact on human health, emergence of resistant superbugs
- FDA has reviewed just 7 percent of animal antibiotics for superbug risk
- Problems at Foster Farms plants emerged amid salmonella outbreak, documents show
More press releases
- Abusing Chickens We Eat,
nytimes, Nicholas D. Kristof, DEC. 3, 2014 - Watch What It’s Like to Be a Factory-Farmed Chicken,
motherjones, Dec. 4, 2014. - Perdue Whistleblower Video Reveals Horrors,
opednews, Martha Rosenberg, Dec. 4, 2014. - Hoping to Change the Industry, a Factory Farmer Opens His Barn Doors, wired, Dec. 4, 2014.
- Better Chicken Initiative, CWIF.