As many as 160,000 Americans die each year from antibiotic resistant infections. Tell the FDA: Get serious about tracking and reducing antibiotic overuse. |
John,
Antibiotic resistant "superbugs" are still a growing public health threat -- by one estimate, 160,000 Americans die each year from a resistant infection.1
Why? Because the meat industry continues to overuse antibiotics -- often with animals that aren't even sick.2
To make matters worse, almost 80% of farms aren't even reporting their antibiotic use.3 This must change if we're going to end the overuse of antibiotics in meat.
Antibiotics have saved millions of lives and are critical to so many modern medical treatments -- from major surgery to chemotherapy. We can't afford to waste these lifesaving medicines, especially not for the sake of cheaper beef, pork and other meat.
The majority of antibiotics that are useful in human medicine are not given to humans. Instead they are given to animals, and many of them aren't even sick. In order to eliminate the overuse of antibiotics in meat production, we need to know where and how antibiotics are being used on the farm.
The FDA is considering new rules to track and reduce the overuse of antibiotics in meat production, and it is accepting public comments until Oct. 31.
Urge the FDA to get serious about tracking and reducing the overuse of antibiotics in meat.
Thank you,
The team at U.S. PIRG Education Fund
1. Chris Dall, "CDC Spotlights 'Deadly Threat' of Antibiotic Resistance," Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), November 19, 2019.
2. "Putting Meat on the Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America," The Pew Charitable Trusts and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, last accessed October 5, 2023.
3. "Keep Antibiotics Working," Food and Drug Administration, August 22, 2022.
U.S. PIRG Education Fund
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