Antibiotics

KAW Campaign Praises Kennedy Introduction of Bill to Fight Antibiotic Resistance

Press release praising U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy for his introduction of a bill that would phase out the routine feeding of medically important antibiotics to healthy farm animals.

Why Did McDonalds Cross the Road?

Hope Magazine | May/June issue | Lane Fisher, Editor | THREE MAJOR FAST-FOOD CHAINS have decided to just say no to chickens that have been treated with Cipro-related antibiotics. McDonald's, Wendy's, and Popeye's restaurant chains have gone public with the news that they no longer will purchase chicken treated with fluoroquinolone antibiotics.

IATP Report on Antibiotic Use in U.S. Aquaculture

The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy released a report on March 21 by Dr. Charles Benbrook entitled Antibiotic Drug Use in U.S. Aquaculture. The report estimates that 204,000 to 433,000 pounds of antibiotics are used annually in the production of seafood sold in the U.S. This includes antibiotics from the same classes that doctors depend on for treating sick humans.

Group Letter to Poultry Producers on Antibiotics Used in Poultry Production

This letter was included in a packet of information sent to poultry producers urging them to reduce antibiotic use and contained the names of the major restaurant chains who will no longer buy poultry raised on antibiotics and poultry producers who have publicly stated they will no longer use medically important antibiotics in production.  

Minnesota Becomes the Focus of Antibiotics Debate

Minneapolis - St. Paul Star Tribune | March 18, 2002 | Joy Powell and Jill Burcum Minnesota poultry producers and scientists are being swept up in the increasingly contentious national debate over the use of antibiotics in animals. Treating sick animals with antibiotics, and using drugs to promote growth in healthy ones, has been controversial since the practice became widespread in the 1970s.

USGS Study Finds Antibiotics in 48 Percent of Streams Tested in 30 States

Press release on a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey that reports that antibiotics are found in 48 percent of 139 streams in 30 states.

Playing Chicken with Disease

Sierra Magazine | March 1, 2002 | Jennifer Hattam. Penicillin seemed like a miracle when it was introduced in the 1940s: a drug that could cure previously devastating bacterial diseases such as pneumonia, syphilis, and meningitis. Some 60 years later, antibiotics are so commonplace we take them for granted. But their power is dwindling.

Internet Video Launched to Fight Antibiotic Resistance

KAW press release announcing the launch of an Internet campaign to educate the public about the growing health threat of antibiotic resistance. The animated video, “Playing Games with Public Health,” uses a game show format with bacteria as contestants to explain how the overuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture is threatening public health.

Myths and Realities

Keep Antibiotics Working document that counters many of the "myths" that the public perceives to be true around the use of antibiotics in animal agriculture.

Important Drugs Losing Effectiveness Due to Use in Poultry

KAW factsheet on fluroquinolone use in poultry and its public health implications.