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Human Health Implications of Non-Therapeutic Antibiotic Use in Animal Agriculture

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An HSUS Report: Human Health Implications of Non-Therapeutic Antibiotic Use in Animal Agriculture

  • “In 1951, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the addition of penicillin and tetracycline to chicken feed as growth promoters, encouraging pharmaceutical companies to mass-produce antibiotics for animal agriculture. By the 1970s, nearly 100% of all birds commercially raised for meat in the United States were being fed antibiotics. By the late-1990s, poultry producers were using 5 million kg (11 million lb) of antibiotics annually, more than a 300% increase from the 1980s. The thousands of tons of antibiotics used in animal agriculture are typically not for treatment of sick and diseased animals. Rather, the drugs are used for non-therapeutic purposes. More than 90% of U.S. pig farms, for example, feed the animals antibiotics for such non-treatment reasons as promotion of weight gain.”
  • Union of Concerned Scientisits – Hogging It!: Estimates of Antimicrobial Abuse in Livestock (2001 revised in 2004) – “This report attempts to fill in that gaping chasm by providing the first transparent estimate of the quantities of antimicrobials used in agriculture. We have devised a methodology for calculating antimicrobial use in agriculture from publicly available information including total herd size, approved drug lists, and dosages. The method is complex but sound, and the results are startling. We estimate that every year livestock producers in the United States use 24.6 million pounds of antimicrobials for nontherapeutic purposes. These estimates are the first available to the public based on a clear methodology.”
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