I recently received this from CREDO Action. Although I do add my name to many of the causes brought up by the organization, I will NOT sign this petition. The disgusting conditions 98% of the animals slaughtered for food endure, (which is why they need megadoses of antibiotics in the first place ... and lets not even talk about the hormone cocktails they're given), is reason enough to stop eating them. Go vegan. Eat more plants and stop worrying about antibiotics in your food. I will not vote to make your animal meal healthier or try and reduce the guilt you may feel in causing a needless death of a sentient being. I'm less worried about the abuse of antibiotics than I am about the abuse, (read killing), of sentient, innocent beings.
Any change in the care taking of animals destined for the dinner table, short of abolishing their use, is a travesty. It allows people to continue to justify eating them and I will not be a party to helping in that justification.
Those justifications really don't matter. They range from such nonsense as, "Well, they had a good life, just one bad day," to justify so called "humane" treatment of farm animals, which in their minds makes the needless killing OK, to "They were put on earth for our benefit," in which case I say that so were the antibiotics put here and those businessmen who over use them for profit put here and the disease which kills your fellow man because we've taken an incredibly effective medical tool, (antibiotics), and diluted it to the point of ineffectiveness, all so you can have a steak or bacon? Are you out of your friggin' minds?
If you're worried about disease then you should listen to Dr. Michael Gregor speak about our creation of a world where we are a hair's breath away from pandemics:
http://www.drgreger.org/DVDs/#swineflu
Or read his interview with Kathy Freston about Bird Flu here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-freston/flu-season-factory-farm...
There is only one solution to reversing this unimaginable course we've set the earth on and that is going vegan. Not reducing antibiotics, not humanely treating animals before they are killed, not giving egg laying hens 4 more inches to live in. No. There are a lot of reasons to not eat animals but if you're worried about the effectiveness of antibiotics, and how much is in your food and whether or not you can trust big ag ... you should do one simple thing. Stop eating animals.
Here's the Credo Action page:
Deadline Tuesday: Stop factory farms from abusing antibiotics
Cephalosporins are a critically important class of antibiotics that are key to treating bacterial meningitis, salmonella, children, and the seriously ill in hospitals.
But factory farms and Big Ag companies are putting the effectiveness of cephalosporins at risk through overuse in livestock.
The FDA is poised to stop this practice at factory farms - but Big Ag is pushing back hard. We have until Tuesday to go on the record in support of new limits to stop factory farms from abusing antibiotics.
Submit a public comment now supporting the FDA's recent decision to limit cephalosporin use in factory farming.
Today, factory farms give cephalosporins to almost all broiler chickens before they hatch, whether they have infections or not. Factory farms also use the drugs large-scale to fight infections in cows and pigs.
In the absence of FDA regulation, this off-label overuse has led to an increase in the development of cephalosporin-resistant bacteria in animal populations.
The links between antibiotic use in factory farming and the increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria are clear. So it's simple: the more these drugs are used in animals, the less effective they will be in humans.
And because these drugs are especially important for treating children -- they carry no warnings against pediatric use -- the risk to our kids of cephalosporin-resistant bacteria is significant.
If we want antibiotics to work for us when we need them, we have to to stop their misuse and overuse in farming.
Submit a public comment now supporting the FDA's recent decision to limit cephalosporin use in factory farming.
The FDA plan would limit the use of cephalosporins in food animal production. It's not the first time they've tried to put such a rule in place. An attempt in 2008 failed when the FDA was flooded with comments from veterinarians, farmers and drug companies opposing the ban. We need to make sure that doesn't happen again. The FDA clearly wants to act, but they need to be able to show that thousands of us are behind their actions.
The FDA's new rule against off-label uses of cephalosporin, which bans routine injections of cephalosporins into chicken eggs and large and lengthy dosing in cattle and swine, but allows smaller dosing under veterinary supervision and usage in animals like ducks and rabbits.
It is a small step but an important one, in protecting this class of antibiotics, and putting the brakes on the overuse of antibiotics in factory farming.
If the FDA can successfully regulate cephalosporins, it's a foothold to go after bigger wins, including finalizing a guideline proposed in 2010 focused on putting a stop to the use of antibiotics solely to promote growth or to compensate for animals' unsanitary living conditions.
Thank you for taking action by Tuesday to fight dangerous antibiotic abuse by factory farms.
