As it turns out, this whole bit about the use of antibiotics in livestock and poultry is a complex issue.  It’s well beyond anything that anyone would guess at first blush.  The best online summary is the position paper put out by Food Marketing Institute.  Curiously enough, it doesn’t have a year on it.  Based on the references, I’d guess it was probably around 2005.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of therapeutically low doses of antibiotics in feed.  However, very few studies were conducted.  They decided that giving little bits of antibiotics to animals would help avoid illness.  What this means in practical life is that they will grow faster and produce more meat prior to being slaughtered and eaten.

Everybody agrees that using too many antibiotics in humans can cause humans to become resistant to those antibiotics.  This has been blamed on everything from patients who want a prescription for an illness that isn’t caused by bacteria to doctors feeling they need to give a prescription to justify their fee.  This kind of talk has been around for a long time. Read more on Antibiotics in Livestock Feed Endanger The Entire World…