We've all heard those stories about the days before penicillin when people died from a toothache or stepping on a rusty nail. Well, it looks like the return of those days might be closer than any of us imagined.
Big agribusinesses have been pumping so many antibiotics into their pigs, cows, and chickens that new strains of antibiotic-resistant germs have started to crop up. We can't treat illnesses caused by these new super germs, and that means people are dying — 23,000 in the U.S. and 700,000 globally every year.
When Susan heard about these terrifying developments, she knew that she couldn't sit by while the meat industry's carelessness put us all in danger. Please sign her Care2 petition urging President Obama to create a task force to stop the overuse of antibiotics on farm animals.
In the last five years, the use of antibiotics in the agricultural industry has grown 23 percent. This is despite the fact that Americans are eating less meat and farms are raising fewer cows and pigs. So, fewer animals are now getting more antibiotics than ever before.
The FDA reported in 2011 that 3.3 million kilograms of antibiotics were used on people. That same year, farms used nearly 8.3 million kilograms of antibiotics on cows, pigs, and chickens. By 2014, the amount had reached nearly 9.5 million.
The FDA was so horrified by the overuse of antibiotics in the American agricultural industry that they started a program in 2012 to encourage farms to reduce their reliance on antibiotics. But the numbers still kept going up.
Despite being on the brink of a health crisis, the agribusinesses are obviously not going to stop abusing these antibiotics on their own.If enough people speak out, we may be able to convince President Obama that a more drastic measure is needed.
Please sign this petition urging the President to create a USDA-FDA joint task force to map out a plan for stopping the agricultural industry from overusing antibiotics on farm animals.
Thank you,
|
|
Lacey K. The Care2 Petitions Team |
|