10 Things you should never feed your kids - number 3

Antibiotics

The culprits - Penicillin, Tetracycline, Erythromycin… Sound familiar? They should. The livestock industry uses the same antibiotics that we administer to ourselves and our children to combat a host of different infections. Over 70% of all antibiotics produced in the US ( around 25 million tons) are given to farm animals.

The problems - One of the big differences is that we generally only take antibiotics under prescription when we are sick whereas the livestock industry administers them non therapeutically which means they are given to prevent illness. A benefit of this is an increased growth rate, presumably because the animals spend less energy fighting off bacteria and spend more energy growing. Another benefit is that animals can be kept in dirty, cramped conditions with less chance of the spread of potentially fatal diseases. The major downside is that this practise results in the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria developing within the animals system. When the animal is slaughtered these ’super bacteria’ are ingested by us humans and unless killed during the cooking process have the potential to make us ill. Once ill we are prescribed the appropriate antibiotic which may be ineffective against these resistant strains. The research behind this is extensive and these findings are well supported which is why the EU banned non therapeutic antibiotic use in 1998. Many agencies including the World Health Organization, The American Medical Association and the American Public Health Association have repeatedly pushed for banning this practise. The World Organization for Animal Health concluded ” here is clear evidence of adverse human health consequences [ from agricultural use of antibiotics including...] infections that would not have otherwise occurred, increased frequency of treatment failures ( in some cases death) and increased severity of infections.” 

Another recent finding is that these resistant bacteria are being found in fruits and vegetables due to their presence in the animal manure used for fertilizing. Even Organic produce has been affected as there is no USDA requirement that any manure used needs to come from organic livestock. The Dole Spinach food poisoning case of 2 years ago was linked to run off from a nearby cattle ranch.

Consumption of the antibiotics themselves is also a problem. The body is equipped with antibodies that are designed to attack incoming bacteria as part of the immune defense system. If there are constant levels of antibiotics in the bloodstream from the consumption of treated meat then the antibodies are basically ‘unemployed’ which is the basis of what is known as the ‘ hygiene theory’. The antibodies then begin to attack the protein in food which may serve to explain why the numbers of children with food allergies has tripled in the past 10 years.

The FDA has been trying to impose a ban on non therapeutic antibiotic use since the late 1970’s but as has been the case with most of the issues brought up in previous posts it seems unable to impose the same restrictions as the rest of the world due to the agriculture and drug lobby. In 2008 the FDA issued this statement prohibiting the use of these antibiotics and saying they would be banned effective Oct 1st 2008. ” We are issuing this order based on evidence that extralabel use of these drugs in food producing animals will likely cause an adverse event in humans and as such presents a risk to the public health”. By Nov 25th the ban was revised to allow more time to review comments. Apparently after 30 years of covincing evidence the jury is still out.

The solutions - EAT ORGANIC. Organic meat has no preservatives, antibiotics or growth hormones. In addition several chicken producers have labelling that says no antibiotics which is a better choice if organic is absolutely out of the budget.