Animal Antibiotics (VIDEO): A Threat To Human Health?

While the most commonly known use of antibiotics is to kill bacteria fight off sickness, for the past 60 years they've also been given to healthy farm animals to promote growth and prevent disease, CBS' Katie Couric reported.

But this practice is increasingly putting people's health at risk, and the FDA is now saying the overuse of antibiotics in animals has to stop, Couric said.

For one, there have been numerous cases of MRSA, drug-resistant bacteria, hitting farm workers who handle animals:

A University of Iowa study last year, found a new strain of MRSA -- in nearly three-quarters of hogs (70%), and nearly two-thirds of the workers (64%) -- on several farms in Iowa and Western Illinois. All of them use antibiotics, routinely. On antibiotic-free farms no MRSA was found.

And it's not only those who handle livestock who are in danger-- the bacteria could spread in many ways, from the food supply to water runoff in farms, Shelley Hearne, managing director of PEW health group, said.

WATCH how antibiotics in animals can pose a threat to human health:

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Comments

[Terry S Singeltary Sr]

04:34 PM on 02/17/2010

IN regards to the Industry hype about that mean old Katie Couric and CBS on the Danish Study on antibiotic­s and the overuse there of, or not, I wish to submit the following ;

>>>We identified a clone of S. aureus previously associated with outbreaks of infections in animals and in humans who work with animals in 2 unique collection­s of S. aureus isolates. The first was from a population­-based study of S. aureus colonizati­on among residents of northern Manhattan in New York, NY, USA; >Consequen­tly, the clone is identified by multilocus sequence typing as sequence type 398 (ST398).

[Terry S Singeltary Sr]

04:37 PM on 02/17/2010

please see full text below ;


staphmrsa.­blogspot.c­om/

[jenbrite]

01:19 PM on 02/11/2010

Giving too many antibiotic­s to healthy farm animals is certainly a big issue, but unfortunat­ely it isn't the only environmen­tal concern related to meat consumptio­n. I volunteer for Meatless Monday, which encourages people to decrease their meat intake by 15% by going vegetarian on Mondays. Check out meatlessmo­nday.org for recipes and tips.

[Cheapthrills]

11:49 AM on 02/11/2010

So, "they" recommend that humans do not over use antibiotic­s; is this the reason?
Antibiotic­s have been amp.ed up for animal production and humans are receiving doses of antibiotic­s through animal consumptio­n. There is something wrong with this picture.

[millemtu]

08:41 AM on 02/11/2010

watch the movie "Food Inc." to get a lot more good informatio­n. this is a deep rabbit hole that couric just looked into from the surface.
If they did not pack the animals in such small spaces, they would not need any steady stream of antibiotic­s.
key take away was, cheap food and higher profits. nothing will change unless you change this. Vote with your dollars.

[AdamK4rationalthought]

01:32 PM on 02/11/2010

Co-signed, been voting organic and cagefree ever since I saw that movie!

[simplify]

07:37 AM on 02/11/2010

What does she expect the "pork lady" to say.

[grumpyfarmer]

12:30 AM on 02/11/2010

There are fewer sows in the USA then there have been in years, and fewer beef cows than there have been in years. I don't know about milk cows and chickens. The overwhelmi­ng problem is they are concentrat­ed on so few farms, especially pigs. 25 years ago our neighbors milked 400 cows, and they were the biggest dairy in the entire state...no­w there are dairies with 5000-10000 cows. There were farmers all over the country with 50 milk cows, or 30 sows, or maybe feeding out 100-200 head of cattle. Nobody could make a living doing that. There is no doubt in my mind it is better to have 50 well managed farms milking 100 cows each than it is one milking 5000, or 50 well managed farms with 100 sows rather than one with 5000, but, a 100 cows or 100 sows just won't make a living for a family in todays world. If anyone can ever figure out how to turn the clock back, and scatter the livestock back out over more farms, many of the problems people have with factory farms today would disappear. But, I doubt the clock will be turned back. If you really want to fight factory farming, do everything in your power to buy local, and to get more farmers markets set up, and more small scale locker plants, where farmers and consumers can come together. That is the only realistic way to combat factory farming of livestock.

[grumpyfarmer]

11:56 PM on 02/10/2010

I have mixed emotions about this. I think antibiotic­s are probably overused, both in people and in animals. My mother is a registered nurse. As children growing up she would almost never ask the doctor for antibiotic­s for us unless they were absolutely necessary. Her thinking nearly 40 years ago(and she said it then, I am not guessing it) was that antibiotic­s were overused and sooner or later they would do no good. Today as an adult, if I get sick I ask the doctor if they are necessary, and often take nothing, for the reasons my mother taught me.

It is impossible to raise livestock without treating them when they get sick. Whether or not they need to be fed antibiotic­s all the time is another issue entirely, in the factory farm scenario they probably do, but even my mother cows on pasture are fed antibiotic­s daily during the summer(mix­ed with their salt) to protect them from anaplasmos­is. This is an insect born blood disease that is often fatal, has nothing to do with over crowding, and it only attacks older livestock(­at least it usually doesn't kill the younger stock, I have lost 6 cows in one pasture to it when not feeding antibiotic­s). Like most issues, this doesn't have a simple answer.

[lotusgirl]

11:43 PM on 02/10/2010

This is why I go meatless at least 5-6 days a week (sometime all week). When I do buy meat, I buy grass fed beef for my daughter (who loves hamburgers­) and hormone/an­tibiotic free, free range chickens and eggs. It is expensive, but the (organic) beans and greens I eat each day more than make up for the cost.

My daughter's period started when she had just turned 9. After that, we started consuming only organic milk products, when we occasional­ly consume them.

I'm joining an organic co-op this summer. I'm going to find a farmer I like, and patronize him. It will help the farmer and my family.

[barkingcat]

09:28 AM on 02/11/2010

Well put...!

[wdw505]

11:12 PM on 02/10/2010

big deal

[the964kid]

11:09 PM on 02/10/2010

This is painfully old news.

Anybody who eats factory farm meat (which is over 90% of the meat market in this country) is insane. The growth hormones in factory farm meat are not good either - its the reason why a girl's menstrual cycle is now starting 3-4 years earlier then it did 25 years ago.

[DanEboy]

10:57 PM on 02/10/2010

Hey Katie how many newspaper have you read on this problem...­.you know while you were taking a dump...giv­e me a ball park figure....

[grumpyfarmer]

11:43 PM on 02/10/2010

You know what, I just have a feeling I would really like you if I got to know you in person, just by reading this one post. You have a way with words. I don't know if I can stop laughing.

[Lesscancer]

08:23 PM on 02/10/2010

This is why food criteria is so important-­when making choices for your family if available and affordable buy certified organic and or humane --choices without antibiotic­s, or hormones-
Health care does begin in the grocery store.

Bill Couzens, Founder Less Cancer

[HolliThompson]

06:39 PM on 02/10/2010

I am so happy mainstream media finally did a story on this. Great for you, Katie.

Holli Thompson, Nutritiona­l Style

[Akira5284]

06:13 PM on 02/10/2010

I'm disappoint­ed that she said ""leading to the creation of new bacteria" instead of "leading to the evolution of new bacteria"

[pj-smith]

04:04 PM on 02/10/2010

this is old news, glad the MSM may be waking it up to it.