Via the Union of Concerned Scientists:

Keep Antibiotics Working!

An estimated 70 percent of all antibiotics used in the United States are regularly added to the feed of livestock and poultry that are not sick—a practice with serious consequences for our health. Bacteria that are constantly exposed to antibiotics develop antibiotic resistance. This means that when humans get sick from resistant bacteria, the antibiotics prescribed by doctors don’t work.

Please write to your representatives today and ask them to support the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act. With members of Congress who have long supported curbs on antibiotic overuse now heading key congressional committees, the time has never been better to pass this critical legislation.

FYI: While no Tiny Violin alert is necessary for the UCS’s sample letter, please consider including the plight of farm animals in your letter. While the misuse of antibiotics by factory farmers does indeed present a threat to public (human) health, it also allows big agribusiness to grossly mistreat and neglect their “livestock” - and in an economically beneficial manner, to boot. If corporations were prohibited from using antibiotics as a preventative, then they’d be forced to provide for their animals’ basic medical, nutritional, and perhaps even social needs in order to turn a profit.

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare action alerts UCS Union of Concerned Scientists factory farming agribusiness agriculture antibiotics resistance bacterial resistance livestock poultry bacteria Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act public safety public health