Political Quotes

“I rise today to introduce the Preventing Antibiotic Resistance Act. This legislation puts in place reasonable safeguards on when and how antibiotics can be used in agriculture. Few people realize that antibiotics are used in animal agriculture; even fewer realize the scope of the problem. Last year 29.9 million pounds of antibiotics were sold in the U.S. for meat and poultry production. That is four times what was used in all forms of human medicine. But there is more to be concerned about. The vast majority of these drugs are fed to healthy livestock and poultry, with little or no veterinary oversight. The drugs are used for growth promotion, to fatten up animals before slaughter. At these low levels, the doses are not large enough, or powerful enough, to eliminate all the bacteria inside the animal's body. The small dose only kills off the weakest bacteria, leaving the strongest, most resistant bacteria behind to reproduce. It creates a perfect storm for antibiotic resistance. This isn't just a problem for the animals. These antibiotic resistant pathogens make their way into our food, our water, and our communities. A recent study published in the medical journal Clinical Infectious Diseases found that nearly 50 percent of grocery store meat was contaminated with antibiotic resistant pathogens. Even more concerning, 25 percent of the meat was contaminated with pathogens that were resistant to three or more type of antibiotics.…”