Antibiotics transform Staph into drug resistant strains – over use in animals has a creeping effect on humans. We acquire resistance from the food chain
Members of the Keep Antibiotics Working coalition (KAW), including medical, agriculture, and environmental experts, are repeating their call for Congress to compel the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to determine whether swine, cattle and poultry harbor MRSA in the US and could be reservoirs from which infections are making their way into the community.
“Antibiotic resistance is exploding in our hospitals and communities. Medical experts point to the profligate use of antibiotics in animal feed as a significant cause, but those in charge of safeguarding our food system are mostly just whistling in the dark,” said Rebecca Goldburg, Senior Scientist at Environmental Defense.
The heavy use of antibiotics in industrialized livestock operations can select for resistant bacteria, such as MRSA. The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that 70% of all the antibiotics and related drugs used in the United States are used as feed additives for chicken, hogs, and beef cattle. Antibiotics use in pig farms in the Netherlands is believed to be facilitating the spread of MRSA there.
Proposed federal legislation would phase out the use of antibiotics that are important in human medicine as animal feed additives within two years.
New Study Links Animal Agriculture To More Than 20% Of MRSA Infections In The Netherlands.
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