I had heard that overprescription of antibiotics was leading to antibiotic-resistant bacteria, but I wasn’t aware of the “big part” played by factory farms, according to an op-ed column by Nicholas D. Kristof that I read in the March 7th edition of The New York Times. Hogs, cattle and poultry are fed low doses of antibiotics to speed their growth.
A study by the Union of Concerned Scientists found that in the United States, 70 percent of antibiotics are used to feed healthy livestock, with 14 percent more used to treat sick livestock. Only about 16 percent are used to treat humans and their pets, the study found.
More antibiotics are fed to livestock in North Carolina alone than are given to humans in the entire United States, according to the peer-reviewed Medical Clinics of North America. It concluded that antibiotics in livestock feed were “a major component” in the rise of antibiotic resistance.