Yet another article about the need to stop using unnecessary ("preventative")antibiotics in livestock, this time from the AP in this morning's Carroll County Times. Under the headline "Pressure builds to stop antibiotics in farming", it begins with a story of a farmer who nearly lost his life from a staf infection that was resistant to antibiotics. His pigs all had the same resistance, the result of the antibiotics they were given. He lived; stopped feeding his pigs the drugs; saved $16,000 per year. Lots of quotes from Johns Hopkins Expert Ellen Silbergeld, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, another expert at Duke, the World Health Organization calling the problem "one of the leading threats to human health" and the White House pronouncing the problem "urgent".
So, dear reader, why is the practice still so central to mainstream farming? Those of us trying to make our family's diets healthier are seeking out farmers who do not use feedlot practices, but it is inconvenient and costly. If we become the rule and not the exception, we will exert some market pressure, but with so many hungry people, it is hard to argue for higher food prices.
Is anyone else frustrated with this situation?
Copyright 2009, EmeraldAcre.blogspot.com
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