EU'S EXPERIENCE SHOWS SLIGHT PRICE RISE TO CONSUMER
The headlines about staph infections are spreading awareness that overuse of antibiotics has made some bacteria resistant to drugs. The trend poses a threat to everyone, as dangerous infections become increasingly prevalent and challenging to treat.
But most people don't know that 70 percent of antibiotic use today is in feed additives given to farm animals. It is a huge factor in making the drugs less effective for people - and most of it is unnecessary, to boot. It's got to stop.
California should support a bipartisan bill in Congress that would phase out this use of antibiotics in two years.
The European Union has already taken action without a major impact on meat prices. A study by the National Academy of Sciences indicates that a ban would increase the average American's meat bill by $5 to $10 a year. That's a small price to pay to shore up the effectiveness of our antibiotics.
Some farmers like to give large amounts of antibiotics to pigs, cattle and chickens because they can promote faster growth and reduce the risk of disease, especially in overcrowded conditions at factory farms.
But antibiotics' value to farmers is far outweighed by their importance to patients, particularly children and the elderly, whose lives are more often at risk from infection. Effective antibiotics are crucial to preventing infection in surgical patients and victims of challenging diseases, such as AIDS.
California's congressional delegation should get behind S 549 introduced by Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Jack Reed, D-R.I. It's just common sense to rank this human need above any value to the meat industryThe Mercury News
