Stop the Overuse of Antibiotics on Factory Farms

antibiotics cow

Doctors prescribe antibiotics every day to treat everything from simple ear infections to potentially life threatening illnesses. But the World Health Organization now warns that these life-saving medicines will stop working if we continue to overuse them. 

Some of the biggest users of antibiotics are actually factory farms, which routinely give antibiotics to livestock in their daily feed. In fact, 70% of all antibiotics sold in this country are for use on livestock and poultry. 

We can keep our medicine effective, but only with quick and decisive action: Send a message to your state representatives now to stop the overuse of antibiotics on factory farms.

Subject: Stop the Overuse of Antibiotics on Factory Farms
The widespread use of antibiotics is rendering them less effective, and the problem is growing. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, every year more than two million people are hospitalized and 23,000 die because they have been infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Despite the serious consequences of the overuse of antibiotics, many large farms give antibiotics to their livestock and poultry in daily doses in their animal feed, when the animals are healthy. According to FDA data, nearly 80 percent of antibiotics are sold to be given to livestock and poultry.

I urge you to support legislation that would require that meat sold into California comes from animals that are only given antibiotics when they are sick -- not as part of a daily regimen to promote growth or prevent future illness.