Stop Eating CAFO Chicken --
Antibiotics Not Protected and Disease Rampants
May 12, 2015
Story at-a-glance
−
Seventy-five percent of countries have no plan in place to
combat the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance
In the US, agricultural use of antibiotics on CAFOs for
growth-promotion purposes has promoted the spread of
antibiotic-resistant diseases
Tyson Foods announced it will eliminate the use of human
antibiotics in its chickens by September 2017
By Dr. Mercola
Antimicrobial resistance is one of the greatest threats to global
public health today. Unfortunately, instead of getting better, the
problem is worsening to the point that the World Health Organization
(WHO) has stated we are facing a “post-antibiotic era.”1
While bacteria mutating to overcome antibiotics is a natural
phenomenon, the misuse of antimicrobial medications is propagating
this trend. Many strains of bacteria are becoming resistant to even
our strongest antibiotics and are causing deadly infections. The
bacteria are evolving faster than we are.
Meanwhile, drug companies have all but abandoned the development
of new antibiotics because of their poor profit margins. We now face
the perfect storm to take us back to the pre-antibiotic age, and
there is no comprehensive plan going forward.
If our few remaining effective antibiotics fail, we can expect
significant casualties and an end to much of modern medicine as we
know it.
WHO Report Shows 75 Percent of Countries Have No Plan…
A new report from WHO assessed 133 countries’ efforts to combat
the growing problem of antibiotic resistance.2
Only 34 countries had a national plan in place to combat the
problem, which means about 75 percent do not. Dr. Charles
Penn, coordinator for antimicrobial resistance at WHO, told BBC
News:3
“This is the first report to capture on a worldwide basis
what is currently being done. Only one in four had in place a
national action plan and that's too few, a lot more needs to be
done. Public awareness of the issue is low in all regions, many
people still believe antibiotics that kill bacteria will work
for viruses such as the common cold or flu.
…We need the world to act as a whole, we need all
countries to put things in place to address the problem and for
every country to be travelling in the same direction.”
While solving the issue of inappropriate medical use of
antibiotics (prescribing them for viral infections, for instance) is
important, many are not aware that agricultural use of
antibiotics potentially poses an even greater direct threat to human
health by promoting the proliferation of
antibiotic-resistant disease—both in animals and in humans.
An estimated 80 percent of total antibiotic sales in the US end
up in livestock. Nearly 25 million pounds of antibiotics are
administered to livestock in the US every year for purposes
other than treating disease, such as making the animals grow
bigger faster.
Agricultural antibiotics also contaminate the environment when
they run off into lakes, rivers, aquifers, and drinking water,
further increasing the risk of drug-resistant bacteria.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), 22 percent of antibiotic-resistant illness in humans is in
fact linked to food.4
In the words of Dr. Arjun Srinivasan, associate director of the CDC:
"The more you use an antibiotic, the more you expose a
bacteria to an antibiotic, the greater the likelihood that
resistance to that antibiotic is going to develop. So the more
antibiotics we put into people, we put into the environment, we
put into livestock, the more opportunities we create for these
bacteria to become resistant."
Tyson to Remove Antibiotics from Chicken
Eliminating the use of unnecessary antibiotics in agriculture
will be key to curbing the spread of antibiotic-resistant disease.
In the European Union (EU), adding antibiotics to animal feed to
accelerate growth has been banned for years.
In 2013, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asked drug
companies to voluntarily restrict the use of antibiotics
that are important in human medicine by excluding growth promotion
in animals as a listed use on the drug label.
This would prevent farmers from legally using antibiotics, such
as tetracyclines, penicillins, and azithromycin for growth-promotion
purposes. But it’s only a voluntary request, so farmers are
still free to use the drugs if they so choose.
Fortunately, growing consumer awareness of antibiotic-resistant
disease, as well as demand for healthier food, has prompted some
companies, like Tyson, to take initiative ahead of federal action.
Tyson Foods, the largest US poultry producer (it also owns the
brands Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farms, and Sara Lee), became the latest
corporation to announce it will be phasing out the use of
antibiotics in its chicken.5
The company said it will eliminate the use of human antibiotics
in its chickens by September 2017, while also making an effort to
reduce antibiotic use in cattle, hogs, and turkeys. Tyson reportedly
reduced the use of antibiotics effective in humans in their broiler
chickens by more than 80 percent since 2011.
More Companies Commit to Reducing or Eliminating Antibiotics in Meat
Tyson is a key chicken supplier to McDonalds, and their news came
on the heels of a similar announcement from the restaurant giant. In
March,
McDonald’s announced they will only buy chicken raised without
antibiotics important to human medicine, a change they also plan to
phase in over the next two years.
This is likely a major impetus behind Tyson’s move, lest they
lose a major account, although the company told Reutersits plans “go
beyond one customer.”6
Other companies jumping on the anti-antibiotics bandwagon include
Pilgrim’s Pride Corp, the second largest US poultry processor, which
recently announced its plan to remove antibiotics from a quarter of
its chickens by 2019.
Perdue Farms also noted that more than 95% of the chickens it
produces are raised without human antibiotics, while more than half
are raised with no antibiotics at all.7
Chipotle, Panera Bread, and Shake Shack also offer
antibiotic-free meat and poultry, while Chick-fil-A, which is
actually the largest chicken buyer in the US, announced last year
that they would stop buying chicken raised with any
antibiotics.
This is an important distinction, because while many companies
are pledging to stop the use of human antibiotics, the meat
may still contain veterinary antibiotics. McDonald’s, for instance,
said, “The farmers who supply chicken for its menu will continue
to responsibly use ionophores, a type of antibiotic not used for
humans that helps keep chickens healthy.8”
Wholesale club Costco, which sells 80 million rotisserie chickens
a year, has been involved in an ongoing push to end the use of human
antibiotics in chicken and other livestock, although no target date
has been set to reach this goal. Late last year, six of the largest
school districts in the US also decided to switch to
antibiotic-free chicken in their cafeterias, another major
victory.
15 Million US Birds in CAFOs Infected with Avian Flu
Confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are not only breeding
grounds for antibiotic-resistant disease… they’re breeding grounds
for disease in general. Currently, we’re in the midst of a US
outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N2 avian flu, which has been making
the rounds at commercial poultry farms.
In April 2015, five new cases of avian flu were detected in Iowa,
affecting about 6 million birds. This would bring the national tally
to more than 15 million birds, spanning 13 states.9
The largest avian flu outbreak in US history occurred from 1983 to
1984, and ended up with about 17 million birds culled.
We are quick approaching that number with the latest outbreak.
Iowa’s secretary of agriculture, Bill Northey, told the New York
Times:10
“This is a big deal… Going forward, the question is, are
we done? Or does this mean more birds as we go forward?”
Could Bird Flu Spread from CAFOs to Humans?
Although avian flu doesn't spread easily among humans, its
capability to mutate has scientists worrying whether it could mutate
enough to cause a human pandemic. CAFOs serve as the ideal place for
this to happen, as there are millions, if not billions, of host
birds among which the virus can flourish. In Iowa, for instance
CAFOs house an average of 60 million egg-laying hens.11
In the Netherlands, animal health authorities recently discovered
bird flu in samples taken from wild ducks.12
And there is already evidence of antibiotic-resistant superbugs
“jumping” from farm animals to people. For instance, two human cases
of infection with the
antibiotic-resistant superbug MRSA were linked to livestock in
Denmark.13
As reported by Mother Jones:14
“The Danish study comes on the heels a 2012 paper by a
consortium of US and European researchers, which used gene
sequencing to show that another common strain of MRSA originated
in humans as a common staph infection, jumped to livestock,
where it evolved resistance to the common antibiotics
tetracycline and methicillin, and then jumped back to humans.
Of course, you can also contract antibiotic-resistant
pathogens through contact with raw meat—as, for example, more
than 100 people did when the agribusiness giant Cargill sent out
tens of millions of pounds of ground turkey tainted with
antibiotic-resistant salmonella in 2011.”
Just Say No to CAFO Meat
Even without human antibiotics, CAFO meat is no great deal for
your health or the environment. No animal should have to suffer in
one, either. In the video above, Leah Garces of Compassion in World
Farming visits Craig Watts, a contract farmer for Perdue.
Dissatisfied with the system, he has taken the bold step to show
everyone the reality hiding behind his barn doors. "There's a
lot of flaws in the system," he says. "The consumer is
being hoodwinked."
His chicken farm raises about 30,000 chickens at a time (which is
far less than the 60 million chickens common at farms in Iowa), and
over a six-week growing period, it's considered normal for at least
1,000 of them to die. Causes of death include illness, genetic
problems, and injuries occurring from overcrowding. The chicks are
sent to the contract farmer from Perdue, and the farmer has no
control over the health or genetics of the chicks they receive.
Their only job is to raise them, and in order to fatten them up
faster, the farmers are, sadly, actually contractually prohibited
from giving the flock access to open air and sunshine, because the
less the chickens move, and the more they eat, the bigger they grow.
Is it any wonder that the lobbyists for the meat, egg, and dairy
industries heavily promote, and several states have already enacted,
so-called
ag-gag laws to prevent anyone from exposing animal cruelty and
food safety issues at CAFOs? They don’t want you to know what’s
really going on at their “farms,” which is a significant red flag
that you do not want to eat food raised there.
It’s worth noting, too, that most CAFO animals are fed with
genetically modified (GM) feeds, like corn and soy. These crops are
heavily treated with
herbicides like Roundup, the active ingredient of which is
glyphosate. Glyphosate is also patented as an
antibiotic—and a very effective one at that— against a large
number of beneficial organisms. Unfortunately, like all antibiotics,
it also kills vitally important beneficial soil bacteria and human
gut bacteria. This is yet one more way that
eating CAFO foods may harm your gut, your mental health, and
your physical health.
Wouldn’t You Rather Eat Meat Without Drugs?
Positive change is on the horizon. Consumer demand has put
pressure on meat companies like Tyson, Perdue, and Pilgrim's Pride
to adjust their production practices. Fast-food chain Carl's Jr.
even recently rolled out a burger made with grass-fed, free-range
beef, promising to be free of antibiotics, steroids, and hormones,15
which again shows that when enough consumers talk, corporations
listen.
Toward that end, MeatWithoutDrugs.org has organized a campaign
calling for Trader Joe's to exclusively source its meat from animals
raised without antibiotics. You can sign the petition
here. You can
also download, print out a
flyer, and take it with you the next time you visit your local
Trader Joe's store.
Finally, when shopping for truly healthy meat, organic,
grass-fed, and finished meat, raised without antibiotics and
other
growth-promoting drugs is really the only type of meat
that is healthy to eat, in my view. This you will find at farmers'
markets, family farms, food coops, and certain forward-thinking
grocery chains and health food stores. When shopping, keep the
following labels in mind to help you find truly high-quality meat:16
100% USDA Organic label offers
excellent assurance that antibiotics have not been used at
any stage of production.
"No antibiotics administered"and similar labels also offer high assurance that
antibiotics have not been used, especially if accompanied by
a "USDA process Verified" shield.
"Grass-fed"label
coupled with USDA Organic label means no antibiotics have
been used, but if the "Grass-fed" label appears alone,
antibiotics may have been given.
"American Grass-fed" and "Food
Alliance Grass-fed" labels indicate that in
addition to having been raised on grass, the animal in
question received no antibiotics.
The following three labels: "Antibiotic-free,"
"No antibiotic residues,"
and "No antibiotic growth promotants,"have not been approved by the USDA and may be
misleading if not outright fraudulent.
"Natural" or "All-Natural"
is completely meaningless and has no bearing on whether or
not the animal was raised according to organic principles.
"Natural" meat and poultry products can by law receive
antibiotics, hormones, and genetically engineered grains,
and can be raised in confined animal feeding operations
(CAFOs).
Copyright 1997- 2015 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.