Livestock Antibiotics and FDA Inaction: A Look Back
We learned back in the mid-1970s that livestock antibiotics increase the presence of drug-resistant bacteria in farmworkers. Since then, meat and poultry production has nearly tripled while business, government and public advocates have battled over industry regulation. ProPublica charts that battle's history.
We learned back in the mid-1970s that livestock antibiotics increase the presence of drug-resistant bacteria in farmworkers. Since then, meat and poultry production has nearly tripled while business, government and public advocates have battled over industry regulation. ProPublica charts that battle’s history. –ARK
Your support is crucial...ProPublica:
Three decades ago, the FDA determined that feeding antibiotics to healthy farm animals could be dangerous to human health and announced its intention to ban some drugs. But for years, calls for more research and pressure from an industry concerned with rising costs slowed any action. In response to a surge of scientific evidence linking the overuse of antibiotics in livestock to the spread of deadly drug-resistance in humans, a U.S. district court judge recently ordered the agency to take steps to restrict antibiotic-laced feed. Here we trace the history of the FDA’s inaction on animal antibiotics.
As we navigate an uncertain 2025, with a new administration questioning press freedoms, the risks are clear: our ability to report freely is under threat.
Your tax-deductible donation enables us to dig deeper, delivering fearless investigative reporting and analysis that exposes the reality beneath the headlines — without compromise.
Now is the time to take action. Stand with our courageous journalists. Donate today to protect a free press, uphold democracy and uncover the stories that need to be told.
Business & Economy
Here’s what to expect as lawmakers try to hash out a new farm bill.
Politics
Revisiting the Agrarian-Distributists and their fabrication of an American past.
Health & Wellness
Meat and dairy groups have paid for advertisements that cast meat-based alternatives as unhealthy, unnatural and ultra processed.
Health & Wellness
Government-backed factory farming has become a dominant force in the last five decades.
Environment
In addition to being the main cause of animal cruelty in the world, factory farming is a primary source of environmental degradation.
Business & Economy
There is a massive movement, backed by billions of dollars, to keep animal meat on our tables and plant-based meat back in the fads of the pandemic.
You need to be a supporter to comment.
There are currently no responses to this article.
Be the first to respond.