Great harm in giving animals antibiotics

Knowledge is power. This statement is only true if our knowledge is not ignored. Bacteria's capacity for antibiotic resistance is old news. Alexander Fleming cautioned us about bacterium's capacity to mutate and become resistant to penicillin. He knew the more exposure bacteria had to antibiotics, the less effective these drugs would be. Even with this knowledge, antibiotics have been used overwhelmingly on factory farms, with 70 percent of antibiotics sold in the U.S. going to livestock, in large part given to healthy animals for growth promotion and disease prevention. Since 1972, the FDA has known that overuse of antibiotics in agricultural arenas could lead to problems concerning the effectiveness of antibiotics in humans. Furthermore, from 2001 to 2010, the FDA reviewed 30 antibiotics used in factory farms and found that 18 of them were a high risk to human health, as bacterial resistance was plausible. A recent poll released by Consumers Union and Illinois Public Interest Research Group shows that over 90 percent of doctors are concerned about the overuse of antibiotics on farm animals.

Even though we know the numbers and the facts, significant action has yet to be made. I am a consumer who wants my meat to be healthy and my antibiotics to work, and the Obama administration has the power to make that happen. It is of utmost importance for President Obama to ban the misuse of antibiotics on factory farms and ensure stricter regulations through the FDA.

Steph Wynn

Wilmette