May 15, 2001

For Immediate Release:

Contact: David Wallinga, M.D., 612-870-3418

Ben Lilliston, 612-870-3416

Minneapolis - The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) announced today the first-ever consumer guide specifically for buying meat raised without antibiotics. The guide, put together in response to growing consumer demand, gives consumers state-by-state contacts for buying these meat products.

According to the latest estimates by the Union of Concerned Scientists, 84 percent of all antibiotics in the U.S. are used in raising livestock. More than 8 times as many antibiotics are given each year to otherwise healthy cows, pigs and poultry at low levels in their feed and water than are given to sick patients in the U.S. The majority of livestock antibiotics are identical or nearly so to the drugs doctors depend upon to treat sick people.

Widespread use of antibiotics in agriculture has lead to both food and groundwater contaminated with bacteria resistant to the drugs. Public health authorities, like the Centers for Disease Control, now link low-level antibiotic use in livestock directly to greater numbers of people contracting infections that resist treatment with these same drugs.

"Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are a grave and growing health concern, particularly for children," said David Wallinga M.D., director of IATP's Antibiotic Resistance Project. "Raising meat animals with the routine use of antibiotics in the feed or water threatens the viability of these drugs for curing infections in people."

"Buying beef, pork or poultry raised without antibiotics is an immediate step that all consumers can take to help with the problem," added Dr. Wallinga.

IATP's new on-line guide is designed to meet growing consumer demand. According to an April 2001 study by the University of Minnesota Swine Center, consumer concerns about food safety, animal welfare and environmental management are spurring demands for pork raised without antibiotics. The study found, however, that information for finding this pork was lacking.

IATP's on-line guide, now available at http://www.iatp.org/enviroag/, includes the following highlights:

· Why consumers should be concerned about antibiotic misuse on the farm;

· What different meat labels say about antibiotic use on the farm;

· Many outlets where consumers can buy meat raised without antibiotics, including supermarkets and food co-ops, as well as local and national producers that sell directly to the consumer.

Low-level or "non-therapeutic" use of antibiotics in livestock feed is typical for large concentrated animal feeding operations, or "factory farms," which produce most American meat. Antibiotic feeds are given to healthy animals to help them convert feed into weight slightly faster and more efficiently. Antibiotic feeds also are used to offset the hazards of raising livestock under confined, stressful and often unhygienic conditions.

"Farmers need to treat their sick animals," said Dr. Wallinga, "but consumers are right to worry about industrial-scale farms that squander important human drugs on healthy animals, especially when alternatives are available."

"Diversified family farmers have long raised healthy meat animals by focusing on better husbandry, rather than antibiotics, and still made money," said Mark Ritchie, president of IATP.

"Consumers buying meat raised without antibiotics also may be getting a superior-tasting product," added Ritchie. "Food writers for the New York Times, among others, prefer the taste of pork raised on pasture without antibiotic feed to the pork mostly found in supermarkets today. IATP's consumer guide lists restaurants from Manhattan to San Francisco where many of the nation's leading chefs opt for meat raised without antibiotics."

The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy is a non-profit, independent organization that promotes resilient family farms, rural communities and ecosystems around the world through research and education, science and technology and advocacy.

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