 What are
Antibiotics?
In humans, antibiotics are used to treat infections caused by
bacteria, including ear and skin infections, food poisoning,
pneumonia, meningitis and other serious illnesses. They are also
crucial in treating infections that can complicate medical
procedures such as surgery, cancer therapy, and transplants.
 Antibiotics belong to
a category of drugs called “antimicrobials,” and
include medicines like penicillin, tetracycline, and
amoxicillin. These drugs are used to kill or inhibit the growth
of bacteria without causing significant harm to the host (such
as a human or an animal). When bacteria are able to get past
natural defenses (i.e., the skin or the highly acidic stomach),
some can begin to colonize their host, discharging hazardous
toxins as they multiply and when they die.
Traditionally, antibiotics were derived from natural
compounds. Many organisms (including various species of fungi)
produce substances that destroy bacteria and thus prevent
infection. Penicillin, for example, is made from mold. Today,
antibiotics such as fluoroquinolones are synthetic –
meaning they are neither naturally occurring nor derived from
natural compounds.
Since their first application many years ago, antibiotics
have increased in number and variety. Today there are hundreds
of antibiotics in use, though the discovery of new antibiotics
has slowed significantly.
What are
Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria?
When bacteria are exposed to small amounts of antibiotics, the
antibiotics can actually make the bacteria stronger. This is
because while some microorganisms die off as a result of the
antibiotic, not enough of the drug is present to kill the
stronger bacteria. As a result, the stronger bacteria live on,
adapt to living with low levels of antibiotics, and multiply.
These stronger bacteria are called “resistant
bacteria” because they’ve adapted to surviving with
the antibiotics, and therefore antibiotics can’t kill
them. As a result, traditional antibiotics are losing their
effectiveness in the battle against infectious diseases. Some
strains of tuberculosis, for example, have become resistant to
common antibiotics.ii
A good example of antibiotic resistant bacteria would be
Staphylococcus aureus. Thisis a highly
pathogenic microbe that is linked to toxic shock, skin
abscesses, and heart valve infections. In the United States,
almost every strain of S. aureus is now resistant to
penicillin, and strains of the disease have even begun to
develop resistance to newer drugs like methicillin and
vancomycin.iii The threat of prolonged illness or
death from an S. aureus infection has increased as it
has become more resistant and fewer drugs are able to
effectively control or eliminate it.
Although antibiotic resistance is a natural phenomenon,
humans have greatly speeded up the process through our overuse
of antibiotics in humans and animals. Over-prescribing
antibiotics for conditions like the flu or a common cold
(against which antibiotics are useless) contributes to
antibiotic resistance. What is less well known is that
antibiotics are also fed unnecessarily to livestock, poultry,
and fish to promote faster growth and to compensate for the
unsanitary conditions on factory farms.
Antibiotics and the
Animal Industry
Modern industrial livestock operations are an example of how
rampant overuse of antibiotics threatens to increase the
prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. These industrial
farms have been mixing antibiotics into livestock feed since
1946, when various studies showed that low levels of antibiotics
(too low to actually fight disease) seemed to help animals grow
faster and put on weight more efficiently, thus increasing
profits for meat producers.iv When antibiotics are
used like this - for purposes other than treating an illness -
it is called non-therapeutic use.
Aside from promoting growth, the routine use of
antibiotics is also necessary for preventing disease in
conventional industrial farming systems. Modern industrial farms
are ideal breeding grounds for germs and disease. Animals live
in close confinement, often standing or laying in their own
filth, and are under constant stress, which inhibits their
immune systems and makes them more prone to infection. Because
of these conditions, about half of the antibiotics used by farms
are mixed into the feed of healthy animals in order to prevent
disease.v
The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) estimates that
the quantities of antimicrobials administered to livestock and
poultry far outweigh the amount of antibiotics used on humans.
According to UCS estimates, humans use approximately 4.5 million
pounds of antibiotics annually for medical treatment and in
topical creams, soaps, and disinfectants. In comparison,
antibiotic use in beef, pork, and poultry production is
estimated at 24.6 million pounds annually—approximately
five and one half times the amount used in human medicine. Thus,
the use of antibiotics in livestock agriculture accounts for 84%
of total antimicrobial use in America.vi
Large livestock operations produce an enormous amount of
waste—over 1 billion tons annually—that often
contains intact and undigested antibiotics, as well as
antibiotic-resistant fecal coliforms (bacteria that live in the
intestines). It is estimated that as much as 80-90% of all
antibiotics given to humans and animals are not fully digested
or broken down and eventually pass through the body and enter
the environment intact through waste. Thus, these antibiotics
are released into the environment where they may encounter new
bacteria and create more resistant strains.vii Many
of the antibiotics used on livestock and poultry farms are
identical or similar to those used in human medicine, meaning
that bacteria from farms can infect people with diseases that
can not be treated with common antibiotics.viii
Antibiotic Resistance and
Public Health
The rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a major public
health crisis because infections from resistant bacteria are
becoming increasingly difficult and expensive to treat. Already,
an estimated 14,000 Americans die every year from drug-resistant
infections, and the National Academy of Sciences calculates that
the increased health care costs associated with
antibiotic-resistant bacteria exceed at least $4 billion
annuallyix – a figure that reflects the cost of
additional antibiotics and longer hospital stays, but not lost
workdays or human suffering.x
 Although everyone will
be at risk if antibiotics stop working, the threat is greatest
for those with weaker immune systems, such as cancer patients
undergoing chemotherapy and organ transplant patients. Young
children and seniors are also at particular risk because the
immune system functions less effectively for people in these age
groups.xi
Should a colony of drug-resistant bacteria bloom at an
industrial livestock operation, there are three basic means by
which the germs can make their way to the human population: via
food, via the environment (i.e. water,
soil, and airxii
), and via direct contact with animals (i.e., farmers and farm workers). It is estimated that 25-75% of
all antibiotics administered to animals could be passed
unchanged directly into the environment through manure.xiii
Since huge quantities of livestock manure are sprayed on farm
fields to be re-absorbed into the environment, antibiotic
resistant bacteria can leech into ground water and drinking
wells, endangering the health of people living close to large
livestock facilities.
Sustainable Alternatives
On industrial farms, animals are administered antibiotics on a
routine basis – through feed, water, or injection. But not
all animals are raised in such a manner. Ending or minimizing
the use of antibiotics in animal agriculture is both feasible
and potentially beneficial to consumers. According to a study by
the National Academy of Sciences, if the U.S. were to ban the
non-therapeutic administration of antibiotics to livestock, the
average consumer's total food costs would only increase by $4.85
to $9.72 per year. The study suggested that this ban would not
affect the profits of farmers who utilize good management
practices. Furthermore, the ban would be expected to decrease
health care costs.xiv
Many small, sustainable producers do not use antibiotics
at all, in large part because they don’t have to
compensate for unhealthy conditions. On sustainable farms,
animals are raised in a clean, natural environment that is not a
breeding ground for bacteria. Other sustainable farmers will use
antibiotics to treat animals only when they become sick, and
they will make sure the antibiotics have passed out of the
animal’s system before using its meat, eggs or milk.
Federally regulated organic standards prevent antibiotics
being used in the production of certified organic meats. In the
Eat
Well Guide, farmers who never administer antibiotics to their
animals carry the label “no antibiotic use.” Some
sustainable producers will use antibiotics to treat animals that
fall ill, and in this case, food from those animals cannot be
sold as “USDA certified organic” or with the label
“no antibiotic use.” Eat
Well Guide producers who only use antibiotics when an animal
becomes ill carry the label “no routine antibiotic
use.” In these instances, a suitable amount of time must
pass after an animal is treated and before its meat, milk or
eggs can enter the food supply.
What You Can Do
- Some consumers prefer to buy meat
from animals that were never given antibiotics; other
individuals are not concerned about medically-necessary
antibiotic use. The key is to avoid animals that were fed low
doses of antibiotics on a regular basis either to promote
growth or prevent disease. Not only does this greatly increase
the occurrence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in our
environment and food supply, it also indicates that the animals
were probably housed in crowded, unhealthy conditions which
make them prone to sickness.
- Buy directly from the farmer. The
best way to know how or if antibiotics were used is to ask your farmer. Find a
farmer near you using the Eat
Well Guide, an online directory of small farms, stores,
restaurants, and online catalogs that offer sustainably-raised
meat, poultry, dairy, and egg products.
- Farmers’ markets are popping
up all over the U.S. and Canada as their popularity continues
to grow. If you can’t make it to the farm, farmers’ markets are a great
alternative. Usually the farmer or someone who works on the
farm is available and more than happy to answer your questions
about antibiotic use and how the animals were raised.
- Buy local. When you buy locally
produced fruits, vegetables and meat products, you support your
local economy. Community
Supported Agriculture programs, Farmers’ markets and Co-ops are good
options for doing this.
 Advocate
for change. Individual consumers can help bring about broader policy
change by urging the government and industry to reduce
unnecessary antibiotic use in animal agriculture.- Don’t take antibiotics unless
you have a bacterial infection! Colds and viruses cannot be
treated with antibiotics. And all those products containing
antibiotics, such as antibacterial soaps, are no better for you
than regular soap, so there’s no need to use them.
Did
You Know?
- Antibiotics belong to a class of
drugs called Antimicrobials. Other drugs in this group
include antifungals, antiprotozoals and antivirals.xv
- One out of six cases of
Campylobacter infection, (the most common cause of bacterial
food poisoning), is resistant to a kind of fluoroquinolones,
which is the antibiotic most often used to treat severe food
poisoning.xvi
- Nearly all strains of Staphylococcal
(Staph) infections in the US, such as abscesses and toxic shock
syndrome, are resistant to penicillin, and many are resistant
to newer drugs.xvii
- Non-therapeutic use of antibiotics
has increased by about 50% since 1985.
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