Dear Anonymous,

It's a nightmare scenario: You go to the doctor for what you think is a simple, easily treatable infection. Instead, the doctor says that there's nothing they can do -- the infection is resistant to all of our life-saving antibiotics.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria, often called "superbugs," can cause infections that are able to outmatch even our strongest drugs. By 2050, superbugs are expected to cause more deaths annually than cancer does today.1

But U.S. PIRG Education Fund and our national network have a plan to keep our life-saving medicines working when we need them. We're sounding the alarm, educating and mobilizing the public, and using every tool in our toolbox to stop the overuse of antibiotics. But we can't do any of our work without you.

Make your tax-deductible year-end gift to U.S. PIRG Education Fund today, and support our efforts to stop the overuse of antibiotics and all of our other work in the public interest.

A large part of the problem: The routine use of medically important antibiotics on livestock. In the U.S., nearly two-thirds of medically important antibiotics sold are for use in meat production. And the beef industry purchases the most medically important antibiotics out of any meat sector.2,3

As some of the biggest purchasers of beef, fast food restaurants can move the entire farming industry toward safer practices by committing to buy only meat raised without the routine use of antibiotics.

For years, U.S. PIRG Education Fund and our network partners have been calling on fast food restaurants to phase out the routine use of medically important antibiotics from their meat supplies. We're also producing hard-hitting research, mobilizing health professionals, educating the public through the media, and much more -- all to keep our antibiotics effective.

And with the number of people falling ill each year from antibiotic-resistant infections on the rise, this work has never been more important.4

In 2020, we can continue this critical work to stop the overuse of antibiotics, as well as all of our campaigns to speak out for the public interest. But only if we have the support of people like you behind us. Make your tax-deductible donation today, and give U.S. PIRG Education Fund the resources we need to keep our work going.

Here is some of the work that our supporters have made possible:

• U.S. PIRG Education Fund and our national network helped convince McDonald's, Subway, KFC and others to commit to stop buying chicken raised on antibiotics important to human medicine. This change is creating a ripple effect across the fast food industry and has pushed meat suppliers like Tyson Foods to upgrade their antibiotics standards.
• We created the Health Professional Action Network to mobilize health professionals in the work to keep our antibiotics effective. To date, more than 50,000 of them have signed onto our efforts to stop the overuse of antibiotics.
• In October, we released our fifth annual "Chain Reaction" scorecard, authored with our coalition partners. Our scorecard found that most of the top fast food chains in the U.S. are selling beef from cattle raised with routine antibiotic use -- earning Wendy's a D+.
• Citing our Chain Reaction report, the U.S. Air Force decided to contract with BurgerFi on its bases partly because the burger company uses antibiotics responsibly.
• In November, U.S. PIRG Education Fund and the Antibiotic Resistance Action Center (ARAC) of George Washington University launched "Superbugs Unplugged," a joint podcast that will dive into the alarming issue of rising antibiotic resistance. Matt Wellington, our Stop the Overuse of Antibiotics campaign director, is co-hosting the podcast, along with Dr. Lance Price of ARAC.
• And more.

In 2020, we plan to continue educating the public, mobilizing health professionals and more to make sure our antibiotics work when we need them. But we can only do this work with the support of people like you. Don't miss the Dec. 31st deadline: Make your tax-deductible gift to U.S. PIRG Education Fund now.

Thank you,

The team at U.S. PIRG Education Fund

1. Fergus Walsh, "Superbugs to kill 'more than cancer' by 2050," BBC News December 11, 2014.
2. Avinash Kar and David Wallinga, MD, "Livestock Antibiotic Sales See Big Drop, but Remain High," National Resources Defense Council, December 18, 2018.
3. "2017 Summary Report on Antimicrobials Sold or Distributed for Use in Food Producing Animals," U.S. Food and Drug Administration, December 18, 2018.
4. Nicole Fisher, "CDC Report Suggests Antibacterial Resistance Could Undo Almost A Century Of Progress," Forbes, November 23, 2019.