BREAKING NEWS: Superbugs and Meat
Posted July 2nd, 2012 by Sarah FrancisImagine for a moment if antibiotics didn’t work.
Unimaginable, right? Unfortunately, it’s starting to happen–and it’s even highlighted in today’s Washington Post.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, approximately two million people acquire bacterial infections in U.S. hospitals each year. [2] About 70 percent of those infections are resistant to at least one antibiotic. [3] The trends toward increasing antibiotic resistance show no sign of slowing down. [4]
Why are infections in people becoming resistant to antibiotics? The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Medical Association all have highlighted the link between non-therapeutic uses of antibiotics in food animal production and the crisis of antibiotic resistance in humans.
The Food and Drug Administration, a government agency in charge of safeguarding the public health, has done shockingly little to protect us. It’s time for consumers to act. That’s why MomsRising, together with the Meat Without Drugs campaign, is going straight to supermarkets. We’re calling on Trader Joe’s to commit to selling only meat raised without antibiotics.
Sign on to our open letter and together we’ll ask Trader Joe’s to lead the way in getting antibiotics out of our food chain!
http://action.momsrising.org/sign/MWD_TraderJ/
Why Trader Joe’s? This campaign starts with Trader Joe’s – they’re an industry leader and we want them to start a chain reaction throughout the marketplace. And they can still keep prices low: Research from Consumer Reports shows that meat raised without antibiotics doesn’t have to be expensive, just a few more pennies per pound.
According to one MomsRising mom, right now, shopping for meat at Trader Joe’s is super tough:
“Honestly, I could tell you horror stories about trying to buy antibiotic-free meat at Trader Joe’s. It’s this ridiculous whack-a-mole game. It’s a meat minefield and I gave up – but not before a lot of very verbal grumbling and confusion in the store.”
-Ashley, CA
If Trader Joe’s committed to only selling meat that is antibiotic-free, Ashley and parents across this country wouldn’t have to search when they shop. Finding meat without antibiotics is critical to the health of our families. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, antibiotic use in animals has directly led to the emergence of resistant bacteria.
Meat without antibiotics will save the United States a lot of money in the long run. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, antibiotic resistance in the United States costs an estimated $20 billion a year in excess health care costs, $35 million in other societal costs and more than 8 million additional days that people spend in the hospital.
Our families need meat without drugs in this country now. Retailers drive change throughout their supply chains, but first they have to hear from you.
*Tell Trader Joe’s to lead the way in getting antibiotics out of our food chain!
http://action.momsrising.org/sign/MWD_TraderJ/
And please share this link on Facebook, on Twitter, or simply forward this email to a few friends. Together we can look forward to a future where antibiotics continue to come to the rescue when we need them most.
Together we are a powerful voice for children and families,
–Sarah, Monifa, Kristin and the whole MomsRising.org team
This blog is a part of MomsRising’s Supermoms Against Superbugs Blog Carnival! Please check out other great posts from experts, parents and activists on the front lines in the fight to keep our food healthy and safe.
P.S. Huge thanks to the Meat Without Drugs Campaign, Consumers Union and FixFood for all the great work they do on this issue.
P.P.S. Check out this new video produced by Food, Inc. directed by Robert Kenner and narrated by actor Bill Paxton.
P.P.P.S. Wondering how to find out if the meat you purchase is raised without antibiotics? Check labels carefully. ‘Organic’ meat was never given antibiotics. Other labels such as ‘Raised without antibiotics’, ‘No antibiotics administered’ and many other variations can also generally be trusted. You can also check out this great resource for more tips.
31 Comments
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July 2, 2012 at 11:21 pm by ChandaSo, I need to agree with Chris regarding the overuse of antibiotics in this country. I don’t think we can totally pin antibiotic resistance and superbugs on meat and dairy. Nor is it fair to try and hold Trader Joes responsible. Furthermore, we as Americans tend to eat too much of those products anyway. We need to take responsibility for relying on antibiotics to “fix” everything. Being a person who is allergic to antibiotics I have HAD to find alternatives. Yes, the bugs or infections I get may last a few days longer so I may need to endure a little more discomfort, but as a typically healthy person my body is able to fight it off without antibiotics. This is true for many many people and I am not sure why antibiotics are the routine first stop. WIth the internet so accessible it is easy to search for ways to treat an illness without antibiotics. There is such lack of education around this matter.
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Sarah Francis Reply:
July 3rd, 2012 at 1:32 pm
@Chanda,
Thanks for your great comments! I hear you about over use of antibiotics in America. That’s why recently he CDC and the American Medical Association have education campaigns about when to use and not to use antibiotics in humans (http://www.cdc.gov/getsmart/).
But the meat industry is a huge player. A whopping 80% of the antibiotics sold each year in the United States go to farm animals. (http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/12/news-update-farm-animals-get-80-of-antibiotics-sold-in-us/)
Why Trader Joe’s? This campaign only starts with Trader Joe’s. They’re an industry leader and we want them to start a chain reaction throughout the marketplace
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Chris Reply:
July 9th, 2012 at 10:02 am
@Sarah Francis,
It’s a two-edge sword with respect to antibiotics in meats and any farmer will tell you that without antibiotics, the risk of contamination into the food chain from diseased animals is great. Antibiotics are costly to farmers and they only use them when an outbreak of a bacterial infection risks catastrophic disease across a herd of cattle. If we want our steaks, then antibiotics are going to be in our meat supply. But the fact that their presence in small amounts in animal meats does not account for the increases in bacterial resistance that is occurring from overprescribing of antibiotics in our healthcare communities.
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Buy meat at Whole foods.
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July 2, 2012 at 5:16 pm by ChrisWhile some antibiotics are found in meats, the majority of our nation’s crisis in bacterial resistance stems more from the way we use antibiotics in our country and less from what residues remain in our meats. The average sore throat and cold virus does not require an antibiotic, and yet that is what our doctors are prescribing and what put patients are demanding.
If you want to reduce your risk to antibiotic-resistant bacteria, keep your kids away from the following areas:
1. Hospitals – antibiotic use in hospitals is extensive. And with more cases of drug resistance bacterial strains causing hospitalizations, the hospital is the place where you have the greatest risk of acquiring a drug resistant bacterial infection.
2. Nursing homes – elderly patients with weakened immune systems are constantly prescribed antibiotics for persistent bladder, skin sores, and upper respiratory infections. It is not surprising then to see bacterial resistance in these facilities to be so high.
3. Day Care Centers – if you want to expose your child to a whole host of bacterial resistant pathogens, then enroll your child into a day care center where a significant number of kids are on antibiotics for ear infections, coughs and colds. Day care kids are exposed to higher concentrations of resistant bacteria than kids who are not in day care centers. And the exposure is prevalent in all of them, small to large, expensive to cheap. Where kids are housed, resistance will thrive.
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July 2, 2012 at 3:59 pm by GayleSarah,
Great article. I have come to trust almost nothing when it comes to food. I’m trying to make sure I know where ALL my food comes from. I have found a company founded by someone I trust that sells meat and dairy that is 100% grassfed and 100% antibiotic and vaccine free 100% of the time. They have limited products now but will have much more in the fall including skin care and grain free and fermented foods.
Check them out at http://www.RealMeatandDairy.com.
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