Will I Need a Prescription to Fill Up My Tank With Ethanol?

Courtesy: natjoschock/flikr

Hats off to New York Times Columnist Nicholas Kristof for his recent stories (“Pathogens in Our Pork” & “Our Pigs, Our Food, Our Health” ) spotlighting the serious public health risks of overusing antibiotics in industrial farm animal production. If you haven’t read them, you should. I don’t want to downplay the importance of Mr. Kristof’s reports, but in the public health and animal agriculture worlds the issue has long been a point of contention. Organizations like the American Medical Association, American Public Health Association and Keep Antibiotics Working sounded the alarms years ago regarding antibiotic resistance and the need to end the practice of adding antibiotics to animal feed simply to promote growth. Lawmakers have been trying to pass the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA) for the past few years, which calls for an end to the practice. This year, it looks like it has a good chance of passing. Feedstuff’s Washington Correspondent, Sally Shuff, reports New York Congresswoman Louise Slaughter plans to introduce PAMTA 2009 today along with the CEO of Chipotle restaurants. Now that the animal feed issue is prominently placed in the public eye, I wanted to shine a light on another potential source of antimicrobial resistance, ethanol production. Read More >

Antibiotic Use in Industrial Food Animal Production Gaining Notice

Two op-ed articles were published in The New York Times this past week by Nicholas Kristof in regards to the misuse of antibiotics in animal feed. Our Pigs, Our Food, Our Health was in the NYT on Wednesday (3/11) and Pathogens in Our Pork appeared in Saturday’s (3/14) edition. It is encouraging to see such an often overlooked public health issue being brought to the attention of the millions of NYT readers.

Mr. Kristof brings up the point that any medical doctor can tell you: when you overuse and misuse antibiotics, resistance inevitably follows. With 70 percent of all antibiotic use in the United States going into animal feed (at sub-therapeutic levels), a pathway to antibiotic resistant bacteria is clear. And now for the really scary part, “These dangerous pathogens [antibiotic resistant bacteria] are now even in our food supply.” Read More >

Dangerous Medicine in U.S. Food Production: Antibiotics

Robert S. Lawrence, Director, Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future.

I applaud Nicholas Kristof for his column, “Our Pigs, Our Food, Our Health,” in Wednesday’s edition of The New York Times. Mr. Kristof zeroes in on a critical public health issue that could have dire consequences if we do not stop using antibiotics and other antimicrobials as growth promoters in industrial food animal operations.

Nearly a year ago, the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production released a report entitled “Putting Meat on the Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America.” After two years of extensive investigation, the Pew Commission found that the use of antibiotics in animals without a diagnosed illness (i.e., as growth promoters) was of “deep concern.”

In 1998, the National Academies of Science estimated that antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections were increasing health care costs by a minimum of $5 billion annually. The unchecked use of antibiotics in industrial agriculture is contributing to the spread of resistant organisms.

The volume of antibiotics used to treat human illness pales in comparison to the volume used in industrial farm animal production. In 2005, the Union of Concerned Scientists noted that while 3 million pounds of antibiotics were being used in human medicine each year, the food animal industry was using 24.6 million pounds, primarily to stimulate growth and increase production.

Resistant bacteria from industrial operations, such as the facilities mentioned by Mr. Kristof, can reach the human population in a number of ways-through our food and water supplies, the air we breathe, or direct contact with animals, to name a few. And there is increasing concern that this resistance can “jump” species of bacteria, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Prudent public health policy requires that non-therapeutic uses of antimicrobials in food animal production should stop. Economic analyses demonstrate that little economic benefit derives from using antimicrobials as feed additives, and that equivalent improvements in growth and feed consumption can be achieved by improved hygiene.

In 2006, Europe eliminated the use of antibiotics as growth promoters, and South Korea did the same last summer. The American Medical Association opposes the use of antibiotics in farm animals that are not sick, and WHO has called for phasing out the use of antimicrobials for growth promotion in livestock and fish production.

We must put an end to this practice.

*Note from LFB: You can follow Nicholas Kristof’s blog, On the Ground, or his Twitter feed.

Hog Farms, Spread of MRSA, Subject of NYT Column

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof hit on antibiotic resistance today in his opinion column. Kristof reports traveling to the small town of Camden, Indiana, where a recently deceased doctor uncovered a frightening number of residents with MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). Turns out that the small Indiana town is surrounded by a large number of industrial hog farms. Kristof points to the 2004 dutch study which showed pigs could infect people with MRSA, and mentions the recent study from the University of Iowa that found 45 percent of pig farmers examined carried MRSA. Kristof concludes, “so what’s going on here, and where do these antibiotic-resistant infections come from? Probably from the routine use — make that the insane overuse — of antibiotics in livestock feed.” He promises another column in Sunday’s Times that will focus more on the issue.

Elsie Burgers and Dried Yak’s Milk!?

rookie joe/flickr

Courtesy: rookie joe/flickr

The folks over at The Ethicurean put a spotlight on a “sneaky” business practice that many U.S. dairy farmers might say stinks more than a block of limburger cheese. According to the Associated Press, “Hundreds of thousands of America’s dairy cows are being turned into hamburgers because milk prices have dropped so low that farmers can no longer afford to feed the animals.”

Many Ag economists say the reason for the plummeting milk prices is rather simple, thanks to the recession, demand has drastically decreased while supply has reached record heights. However, the National Family Farm Coalition has a different theory. In a news release sent out last week, an NFFC member said “Those Ag economists and others who are falsely accusing dairy farmers of overproducing milk and stating we have too large a supply of dairy products as a way to justify these ruinous low prices couldn’t be more wrong. Until we deal with the reality of a broken pricing system, massive imports and corruption in our dairy cooperatives, we will never be able to obtain fair prices for farmers that cover our cost of production.”

Ethicurean contributor Elanor was intrigued with NFFC’s “massive imports” claims. If we have a milk glut in this country why would we be importing massive amounts of milk products? Turns out, Elanor explains, those products are called Milk Protein Concentrates (MPCs) which often come from water buffalo and yaks from China, India, Poland and the Ukraine. The answer to my question appears to be, foreign MPCs are much cheaper than American milk products and according to Elanor go unregulated.

It’s an interesting read. It seems to me, this has the potential to turn into another melamine debacle, let’s hope without any illnesses. Regarding the NFFC’s claims that dairy farmers are not “overproducing”, I wish I knew the answer. I do, however, believe that we depend too much on mega-dairy farms to produce milk in the U.S.

LFB NEWS ROUND-UP – 3/11/09

 NEWS

Farmers – Organic, Conventional and Otherwise – Need To Focus on Microbial Food Safety – Barf Blog

While the organic folks may have cornered the language involving sustainable, natural and healthy, they use the same promotional BS that any big food company would use. […] The same organic  folks who criticize industry for putting out promotional brochures and information are guilty of … putting out promotional brochures and information. As Katija and I pointed out in our 2004 paper, “The production of safe food is the responsibility of everyone in the farm-to-fork chain. With established relationships between growers and regulatory infrastructure, the CGSB organic standard would be an ideal vehicle for providing organic growers with information and guidelines on identifying and controlling microbial hazards on their produce.”All growers – organic, conventional and otherwise – need to focus on microbial food safety. There’s just too many people getting sick from the food they eat.

Nitrogen Fertilizer: Less is More – Sustainable Food

Agriculture is a significant source of greenhouse gases. Though while much has been made of carbon dioxide and methane, not as much attention is paid to nitrogen oxides, called NOx gases, which are about 25 times more powerful as greenhouse gases than CO2.The application of nitrogen fertilizer in excess of crop requirements is responsible for a great deal of these emissions, while also polluting water. Nitrogen in drinking water can be toxic to children, while excess nitrogen in aquatic ecosystems can cause oxygen depletion by promoting algae overgrowth. Though as it turns out, much of that nitrogen fertilizer might be going to waste for no reason at all.

Michael Osterholm Might Lead USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service – And He’s Straight Out of an Obama Political Thriller – Obama Foodorama

On Friday, Obama Foodorama reported a tip from reliable Capitol Hill sources that Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack plans to name Michael Osterholm as the under secretary for the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the USDA. In the last twenty-four hours, both Food Democracy Now! and Food and Water Watch have put out action alerts to block Osterholm’s appointment, due to his long-standing affection for irradiating food. But Osterholm’s history encompasses far more interesting activity than simply being a proponent of irradiation: Osterholm has a dense, disaster-opportunism resume, and murky ties to Big Ag, Big Pharma, and private defense contractors. Appointing him head of FSIS is a fascinating move, and speaks to a willingness on the part of the Obama Administration to go against its own goal of closing the revolving door between the public and private sector that allows lobbyists and paid consultants to influence government decision making.

Documentary Takes on Big Food – Daily Bread

The timing couldn’t be better for a documentary film like Food, Inc., which Variety describes as “a civilized horror movie for the socially conscious.” As the Obama administration ponders how far to go in taking on Big Food on any number of fronts—crop subsidies, genetically modified foods, safety and environmental regulation, marketing junk food to children, regulation of organics, antibiotic-laden meat—a film like this is just the thing to get the public involved in the discussion. According to Food, Inc.’s marketing materials, the film examines the “highly mechanized underbelly that’s been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government’s regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA.”

USDA Says Antibiotic Use in Animals Can Be Reduced at Reasonable Cost – Union of Concerned Scientists’ Feed

The overuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture contributes to the rise of antibiotic-resistant infections in humans that are costly and difficult to treat. According to a new report from the USDA’s Economic Research Service, there are moderate-cost alternatives to the routine use of antibiotics in animal agriculture, including keeping living conditions for animals more sanitary and testing chickens for disease so that treatment can be provided only when necessary. The report—which focused on the increasing size, industrialization, and specialization of U.S. farms over time—found that routine feeding of antibiotics does not provide more than marginal benefits for broiler chickens and adult pigs, and confers benefits only to young pigs. CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations) are particularly prone to use antibiotics intensively (Read the report here).

Vilsack Details Economic Stimulus Funding for Ag Programs – Meatingplace.com (Login required)

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday announced USDA will be delivering its first actions implementing the $28 billion provided in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Funding is aimed at rebuilding and revitalizing rural communities as well as stimulating local economies and creating jobs throughout the country.

Meat Meets Medicine

My local grocery store, like many around the country, has a pharmacy inside. This pharmacy, like many around the country, happens to be situated next to the meat section. Normally, I think nothing of this juxtaposition. That was, until I stopped by the store the other night around 11pm to pick up a few essentials. I headed to the back of the store and there before me, squarely in front of the meat section, was a huge sign advertising free antibiotics.  I couldn’t help but laugh out loud (and cry a little on the inside).

“There’s some refreshing honesty,” I thought .  Most of the meat available in grocery stores around the country contains antibiotics and antibiotic-resistant bacteria.  This is because of non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in food animal production–a practice that is pervasive in this country, and has been found to result in antibiotic resistant bacteria in humans.  The Union of Concerned Scientists “has estimated that 70% of all antibiotics and related drugs in the United States are used for non-therapeutic purposes (growth promotion and routine disease prevention) in cattle, swine, and poultry.”

Why are essential human medicines going to animals that aren’t actually sick? And why should we care? Read More >

Flies May Spread Drug-Resistant Bacteria from Poultry Operations

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found evidence that houseflies collected near broiler poultry operations may contribute to the dispersion of drug-resistant bacteria and thus increase the potential for human exposure to drug-resistant bacteria. The findings demonstrate another potential link between industrial food animal production and exposures to antibiotic resistant pathogens. Previous studies have linked antibiotic use in poultry production to antibiotic resistant bacteria in farm workers, consumer poultry products and the environment surrounding confined poultry operations, as well as releases from poultry transport

The research was funded by a grant from the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future.

“Flies are well-known vectors of disease and have been implicated in the spread of various viral and bacterial infections affecting humans, including enteric fever, cholera, salmonellosis, campylobacteriosis and shigellosis,” said lead author Jay Graham, PhD, who conducted the study as a research fellow with Bloomberg School’s Center for a Livable Future. Our study found similarities in the antibiotic-resistant bacteria in both the flies and poultry litter we sampled. The evidence is another example of the risks associated with the inadequate treatment of animal wastes.” Read More >

Mark Bittman Makes Appearance on The Colbert Report

Check out Mark Bittman’s appearance on Tuesday night’s Colbert Report. It’s hilarious! Bittman, who discusses his book, “Food Matters, A Guide to Conscious Eating,” make great points about the connection between diet and climate change. Jokes Colbert: “Are you implying that I’m eating while being unconscious?” Colbert clearly has an interest in environmental issues, hosting a variety of guests over the years to discuss diet, global water shortages, and farming. Incidentally, Comedy Central’s Colbert Report reaches millions of viewers around the world each night!

CLF’s 9th Dodge Lecturer Vandana Shiva: Sustainable Local Food is Imperative

At the 9th annual Dodge Lecture yesterday at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health (video will be posted on CLF’s website soon), world renowned scientist and environmentalist Vandana Shiva stated that the most important issues in sustainable agriculture today are the disappearance of nutrition in food (a major public health concern) and localization of food sovereignty. Much of what passes for ‘food’ today -processed foods heavy with corn and soy byproducts - lacks the nutrition that once was the defining feature of food. The so-called gains of the Green Revolution weren’t so much gains as displacements. More wheat, rice and corn was grown, instead of the varied plethora of grains that had supported humans for centuries with diverse nutrients. Good nutrition in food comes from healthy soil, which is a result of biodiverse and sustainable agriculture practices, not vast monocultures. As we continue to grow chemically dependent monocultures of a few crops, we denude the soil of the organisms that keep it healthy and impart necessary nutrients to our food. Dr. Shiva expands on soil health in her recent book: Soil Not Oil. Read More >