After holding off a week to include additional footage, CBS News with Katie Couric will finally run the first of a two-part series on public health risks associated with the overuse of antibiotics in industrial animal production. Antibiotics are often added to animal feed to increase growth and prevent disease in confined animal feeding operations. The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that over 70 percent of antibiotics used in the U.S. are used in animal production. Such use is contributing to growing antibiotic resistant bacteria that is affecting our ability to tread disease. Just about every medical association, including the American Medical Association, American Public Health Association and the American Nurses Association, have called for an end to the overuse of antibiotics in agriculture, even many farm groups. The Keep Antibiotics Working coalition is supporting the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA) in Congress to address this very issue. See a preview from CBS below:
