Dr. Ron DeHaven, CEO and Executive VP of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA)*, spoke last week to the pork industry in Kansas City, MO. DeHaven opposes legislation to ban the use of non-therapeutic (growth promoting) antibiotics and antibiotics with human uses from food animal production. DeHaven used this opportunity to spread misinformation about [...]

The Meat Industry* hosted a Congressional briefing on Tuesday (2/23/2010) in Washington D.C. on antibiotics in livestock and poultry production. The purpose of the briefing was to uncover, in the moderator’s words, the ‘true science’ on antibiotics. Contrary to his assertion, there was very little science presented.
Instead, the briefing featured anecdotes from two veterinarians (Dr. [...]

-From the Animal Welfare Approved web site
Tyson Foods’ recent agreement to settle a lawsuit for falsely advertising its “raised without antibiotics” chicken brand has received limited media coverage – no doubt to the relief of the company’s boardroom. And with an annual turnover of nearly $27 billion, they probably won’t sweat too much over the [...]

Did you know according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, an estimated 70% of antibiotics in the U.S. are used on animals?
To promote growth?
A former research fellow, Jay Graham, MBA Ph.D., recently sat down to talk about the reality of antibiotic misuse on factory farms.  This discussion is in part a follow-up to our March [...]

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 [...]