Overuse of antibiotics in animals is nothing short of abuse and ignores the call to treat animals humanely. Antibiotics are forced onto animals merely as a growth factor; they fatten up the animals and speed up the period of time for growth to put more money in the pocket of the business (Reardon, “US”). While the FDA has called for a voluntary end to this practice, the cruelty does not end there. According to Matthew Scully, the author of Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy, a novel critically evaluating the humane treatment of animals in a free market, some animals in farm factories will spend their whole lives “kept alive…only by antibiotics, hormones, laxatives, and other additives” to their food
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Joel Salatin, the owner of Polyface Farm and a third generation organic farmer, runs his farm without medicating his animals, showing that animals can live healthy lives without the use of antibiotics (Salatin, 180). Salatin explains that his animals are healthier than the factory animals because they can enjoy the symbiotic relationship that animals are supposed to have with nature (Kenner, “Food”). Salatin maintains a small farm, but the decision not to medicate animals can be transferred to large businesses. Denmark is the top exporter of pork in the world, and remains so even though it has completely banned nontherapeutic antimicrobials from animal husbandry (Hungate, et al., “Ominous”). According to Martin, because of Denmark’s strict restraints on antibiotics, the levels of resistant bacteria have dropped in the livestock and humans in under two years (Martin, “Antibiotics”). Neither Salatin nor the Danish pork production have been met with negative consequences to their businesses because of the policy they have implemented (Kenner, “Food”; Martin, “Antibiotics”). If big businesses would follow these models, a decrease in antibiotics resistance could be seen …show more content…
No laws exist that ban the use of medically important antibiotics on animals and monitor antibiotic use is a serious issue that is uprooting our food system. The industry cannot continue with the heavy dependence on medically important antibiotics to keep the animals alive in cruel conditions and to force them to grow faster; passing stringent laws is the only step we can take in order to fix the damage being inflicted on these animals. Self-policing will not work. There must be concrete right and wrongs of antibiotics use in animal husbandry. It is critical to monitor the use of antibiotics because the health of the future depends on having the ability to use antibiotics. Bacteria and infections will never go away, and there must be ways to treat them, or else there will be no need for the food industry to be this large; there will be no one to feed. We must go to war against the abuse of antibiotics, and it is turning into a war of resistance, with the government reluctant to change and bacteria following the natural call to evolve under the conditions of antibiotics they’re exposed to. The government must adapt quicker than the bacteria and make the hard calls of passing laws labeled ‘mandatory’ to cease the spread of antibiotics
Joel Salatin, the owner of Polyface Farm and a third generation organic farmer, runs his farm without medicating his animals, showing that animals can live healthy lives without the use of antibiotics (Salatin, 180). Salatin explains that his animals are healthier than the factory animals because they can enjoy the symbiotic relationship that animals are supposed to have with nature (Kenner, “Food”). Salatin maintains a small farm, but the decision not to medicate animals can be transferred to large businesses. Denmark is the top exporter of pork in the world, and remains so even though it has completely banned nontherapeutic antimicrobials from animal husbandry (Hungate, et al., “Ominous”). According to Martin, because of Denmark’s strict restraints on antibiotics, the levels of resistant bacteria have dropped in the livestock and humans in under two years (Martin, “Antibiotics”). Neither Salatin nor the Danish pork production have been met with negative consequences to their businesses because of the policy they have implemented (Kenner, “Food”; Martin, “Antibiotics”). If big businesses would follow these models, a decrease in antibiotics resistance could be seen …show more content…
No laws exist that ban the use of medically important antibiotics on animals and monitor antibiotic use is a serious issue that is uprooting our food system. The industry cannot continue with the heavy dependence on medically important antibiotics to keep the animals alive in cruel conditions and to force them to grow faster; passing stringent laws is the only step we can take in order to fix the damage being inflicted on these animals. Self-policing will not work. There must be concrete right and wrongs of antibiotics use in animal husbandry. It is critical to monitor the use of antibiotics because the health of the future depends on having the ability to use antibiotics. Bacteria and infections will never go away, and there must be ways to treat them, or else there will be no need for the food industry to be this large; there will be no one to feed. We must go to war against the abuse of antibiotics, and it is turning into a war of resistance, with the government reluctant to change and bacteria following the natural call to evolve under the conditions of antibiotics they’re exposed to. The government must adapt quicker than the bacteria and make the hard calls of passing laws labeled ‘mandatory’ to cease the spread of antibiotics