Pig Farms Breed Resistant Staph
Elizabeth Svoboda at MomsRising Blog - 21 minutes ago
Dario Sabljak/Shutterstock Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), one of the most dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria, is responsible for more than 250,000 hospitalizations a year in the United States alone. And new, even more deadly versions of staph may be on the way, due to intensive use of antibiotics on factory farms. In February scientists reported that a methicillin-susceptible staph had [...]
Soil Bacteria May “Eat” Antibiotics
Dan Cossins at MomsRising Blog - 21 minutes ago
Long-term exposure to antibiotics from agricultural run off may encourage the evolution of soil bacteria that break down and consume the antibacterial agents. Soil microbes exposed to antibiotics over a long period evolve the ability to detoxify the compounds, and may even derive nutritional benefit in the process, according to a report out last week [... ]
Want To Take A Look At The Antibiotics In Your Meat? Here’s Your Chance
Beth Hoffman at MomsRising Blog - 21 minutes ago
Consumer’s Union (an arm of Consumer Reports) says that up to 80 percent of all antibiotics used in the U.S. are administered not to humans, but are given to animals as growth promotants and to prevent disease. But many including the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Consumer’s Union say the overuse of antibiotics in the livestock industry has now led [ ...]
Reps. Waxman and Slaughter Introduce Legislation to Better Monitor Antibiotic Use in Animals
Rep. Henry A. Waxman Media Center at MomsRising Blog - 21 minutes ago
Today Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman and Rules Committee Ranking Member Louise M. Slaughter introduced legislation to provide better information on the amount and use of antibiotics and other antimicrobials given to animals raised for human consumption, H.R. 820, the Delivering Antimicrobial Transparency in Animals (DATA) Act. “The widespread use of [...]
Antibiotics and the Meat We Eat
David Kessler at MomsRising Blog - 21 minutes ago
Scientists at the Food and Drug Administration systematically monitor the meat and poultry sold in supermarkets around the country for the presence of disease-causing bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. These food products are bellwethers that tell us how bad the crisis of antibiotic resistance is getting. And they’re telling us it’s getting worse. But [...]
Superbugs in supermarkets
Dawn Undurraga at MomsRising Blog - 21 minutes ago
I thought I knew what I was getting myself into when I started this project on meat and antibiotic use in animals, but what Environmental Working Group’s team found still shocked me: federal scientists routinely find antibiotic-resistant bacteria – often called superbugs – in meat I regularly buy at the grocery store. Gail Hansen, an [...]
From Superbugs to Sustainability: a Fifth-Generation Producer’s Mission to Raise Pigs without Antibiotics
Russ Kremer at MomsRising Blog - 21 minutes ago
I have a passion for pigs. It started back when I was five years-old, as I cared for the runt and orphaned pigs on our 220-acre family farm in Osage County, Missouri. From the son of five generations of farmers to a student of animal husbandry, to the owner of my own farm, I’ve always [...]
‘We Have a Limited Window of Opportunity’: CDC Warns of Resistance ‘Nightmare’
Maryn McKenna at MomsRising Blog - 1 hour ago
It’s not often that you get to hear a top federal health official deliberately deploy a headline-grabbing word such as “nightmare,” or warn: “We have a very serious problem, and we need to sound an alarm.” Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said both Tuesday, during a press [...]
Antibiotic Resistance Due to Overuse of Antibiotics in Agriculture
Lonnette Harrell at MomsRising Blog - 1 hour ago
Overuse of antibiotics in agriculture has led to many antibiotic-resistant diseases in humans. Animals aree often given antibiotics in low doses to prevent disease, (often caused by unsanitary and crowded conditions), and to aid in growth. Animals that are fed antibiotics grow faster, experiencing 4 to 5 percent more body weight, than those who don’t [...]
Top 3 Ways to Avoid Overuse of Antibiotics
Heather Manley at MomsRising Blog - 1 hour ago
I am writing this blog on behalf on an important group, Supermoms Against Superbugs, as they approach their Superbugs Advocacy Day – April 16 – to bring awareness to the overuse of antibiotics. Below is a quote from them… “Doctors routinely warn patients that antibiotics should be used only to treat bacterial infections, at the [...]
The Facts Are Clear: Animals and Superbugs
Rep. Louise Slaughter at MomsRising Blog - 1 hour ago
As a young student studying microbiology at the University of Kentucky, I immersed myself in the study of antibiotic-resistance. When I wrote my Master’s thesis in 1954, I wrote at length about a danger that continues to be a growing threat today: antibiotics becoming ineffective against the evolution of modern disease. Even then, the laws [...]
Is This the End of Antibiotics?
Laura Termini at MomsRising Blog - 1 hour ago
One of the medications dispensed at the pharmacy, are antibiotics, whose invention is attributed to Fleming, but was really the discoverer? According to the Spanish Royal Academy an antibiotic is a chemical substance produced by a living or manufactured synthetically, could paralyze development of certain pathogens, for its bacteriostatic action, or cause their death, for [...]
¿Es este el fin de los Antibióticos?
Laura Termini at MomsRising Blog - 1 hour ago
Los antibióticos son sustancias que fabrican los microbios y producen la muerte de otros organismos (su nombre deriva del griego y significa “contra la vida”). En 1875 , el naturalista irlandés John Tyndall (imagen) descubrió el primer antibiotico, producido por el hongo Penicillium. El descubrimiento pasó inadvertido, porque en esa época se ignoraba que las enfermedades [...]
Why Trader Joe’s? Why now?
Meg Bohne at MomsRising Blog - 1 hour ago
Consumers Union has taken a stand against the overuse of antibiotics in livestock production for decades – about 40 years, in fact. In that time however, we’ve seen little action by regulatory agencies or lawmakers to curb this practice that is increasingly contributing to the problem of antibiotic resistance. In light of that, Consumers Union decided to [...]
Finding Antibiotic-Free Meat in Chicago (Without Going Organic)
Alison Klinger at MomsRising Blog - 1 hour ago
I’ve been passionate about the Supermoms Against Superbugs issue for almost a year now. The one small step I can take at home, of course, is to change the meat I buy and always look for antibiotic-free options. But at first this can be daunting. To the novice (that’s me) the search for non-industrial-farm meat seems to [...]
Its Master’s Voice: The FDA’s Dependence on Drug Industry Fees
Margaret Mellon at MomsRising Blog - 1 hour ago
I’ve spent many years wondering why the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been so slow to curb the rampant overuse of antibiotics in agriculture. Original Nipper, by Francis Barraud (1856–1924) (Transferred from en.wikipedia) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons For a public health agency, this issue would seem a no-brainer. Overuse of drugs in agriculture [...]
Can an industrialized meat system that breeds superbugs really be called safe?
Sasha Lyutse at MomsRising Blog - 1 hour ago
Not a lot of meat is raised here in New York City. Nonetheless, New York City played host yesterday to the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) Food Dialogues, a well-funded public relations project backed by some of the biggest and most notorious players in the food industry. Billed as a conversation on some of today’s most [...]
The Chicken That Threw Me A Change-Up
Sam Spitz at MomsRising Blog - 2 hours ago
This blog originally appeared in Food Patriots. Seven years ago I had big dreams of playing in the Major Leagues. My fastball topped 86mph. My curve broke from 12:00 to 6:00. And at 15, I was already entering my second season on varsity. Local scouts were drooling. They called almost every night, and even invited [...]