Home on the range
Federal drug regulators announced Wednesday that farmers and ranchers must restrict their use of a critical class of antibiotics in cattle, pigs, chickens and turkeys because such practices may have contributed to the growing threat of bacterial infections in people that are resistant to treatment.
The medicines belong to a class of antibiotics known as cephalosporins and include such brands as Cefzil and Keflex. They are among the most common antibiotics prescribed to treat strep throat, bronchitis, skin infections and urinary tract infections. Surgeons also often use them before surgery to prevent bacterial infections.
The drugs’ use in agriculture has, according to many microbiologists, led to the development of bacteria that are resistant to the drugs’ effects, a development that many doctors say has endangered the lives of patients.
Antibiotics are often added to animal feed and are used routinely to encourage rapid growth of livestock, but officials at the Food and Drug Administration have been increasingly vocal in their concerns that overuse of antibiotics in agriculture is endangering human health. The agency proposed rules in 2010 to slow the use of penicillin, tetracycline and other antibiotics simply to promote growth or prevent disease in feed animals, but those rules have yet to be made final…
The F.D.A. initially proposed its cephalosporin restrictions in 2008 but withdrew the rule before it became effective because of opposition from farmers and ranchers. The rule announced Wednesday is less strict than the one proposed in 2008; it allows for unrestricted use of cephapirin, an older member of the class of cephalosporins that is not thought to contribute significantly to antimicrobial resistance. And the new rule allows veterinarians to continue to use the drugs to treat many illnesses in feed animals as long as they follow guidelines about dosing and duration of use…
Let us us honor two of the three oldest professions: politicians and lobbyists.
I watched “Food, Inc.”. last night.
It puts the true meaning behind Free Range, and grass fed, and
Organic.
I’ll gladly pay more for nutricious safe food.
The picture above says it all.. Just label it
E-Coli
The USDA and the FDA are NOT there for you, the consumer.
They exist to dole out funds, which you, the consumer, so generously provide, to the producers and to do the least amount if testing and monitoring that statistics says they can get away with.
They’re mainly there to provide an unsueable back-stop when shit hits the fan, and gets propelled into YOUR food supply.
They’re the main reason you’re eating pig slop, things made from pig slop, processed pig slop shaped into chemicals nature never intended and that it doesn’t know what to do with, so it just encysts it and stores it as fat.
The USDA and FDA are the reason you have so many heartburn medicines, and need them.
This topic seems linked to the South Dakota family portrait. I like the subtle linking of topics here.
@msb
Don’t forget that due to posilac you’re also drinking pus!
When I have a bacterial infection, I take one pound of hamburger twice a day, and get plenty of rest.
Lol. Ftw
Ten acre pasture in grass, one cow, what’s her name you ask? steak. The previous occupant was hamburger. I trade half a cow for half a pig from my neighbor. Toss in a chicken coop, deer season, elk season, turkey season, a bass boat, and trotlines, and I haven’t bought meat at the store in years.
Half a pig for half a cow? Must be a pretty friggin good pig.
Its a good deal when I don’t have to pay the processor.
Wow – it took them this long to understand cross-resistancy?
Europe – I know, not a great ideal but… – banned this systemic use 10-15 years ago.
What no anti-biotics !!!!!! Less anti-biotics more sick stock, more sick stock, less to slaughter to met demand, equals higher meat prices. Less anti-boitics less issues in humans consuming meat. Dang, now I have to go vegan. E-coli and nitrites etc. here I come.
I’m fortunate enough to live right next to a ranch that raises only grass fed organic beef. They have a small retail store and we get a quarter cow every 5 months or so. Once you’ve tried it you can’t go back, it looks better, cooks better, tastes better.
Happy Colorado cows….well until that inevitable day.
Did the cows have a bad day?