Stung by court orders and new FDA policies aimed at reducing the indiscriminate use of antibiotics in animal feed, the National Beef Cattle Association is mounting an "education" campaign in Congress.
Some 80% of all antibiotics sold in the US are given to livestock. The primary use is not to treat individual sick animals, but to cause them to gain weight more rapidly. Feed antibiotics are given a subtherapeutic levels and appear to alter the gut microbiome in a manner that leads to increased fat accumulation
The NCBAs press release mentions none of this of course. It claims that antibiotics improve animal health and thus protect the food supply - all good stuff. In fact, the opposite is true. The danger of spreading antibiotic resistance through this practice has long been recognized, and the entrance of resistant organisms into the food supply has been confirmed.
It's pretty clear what's going on here. The FDAs guidelines are voluntary because it does not have statutory authority to enforce them without exposing itself to hundreds of appeals from well-funded industry groups. Congress could change this - and that is what the cattlemen are trying to prevent. Presumably they will use the same tactics that are employed by climate-change deniers: throw out a bunch of half-truths and distortions, and then use the resultant confusion to claim that there is a controversy that provides an excuse not to act.
Posted with Blogsy
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