Recently, scientists from the United States, Canada, and northern Europe warned about the impact of livestock operations on human health. One key finding, among six reports published by the National Institutes of Health in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, was the routine use of antibiotics in livestock production contributes to the rise of antibiotic-resistant germs in human medicine. Europe already has banned the use of antibiotics to promote livestock growth.

This article was also published in The Boston Globe on February 11, 2007.