San Francisco and Berkeley Pass Resolutions Condemning Nontherapeutic Use of Antibiotics in Livestock

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors and Berkeley City Council last week each passed resolutions urging federal lawmakers to pass the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act of 2013 (H.R. 1150) and the Preventing Antibiotic Resistance Act of 2013 (S. 1256).

“Twenty-three thousand people die each year in the United States from antibiotic-resistant infections,” a Food & Watch representative was quoted as saying. “The public and elected leaders must take action to keep antibiotics working for people.”

The San Francisco resolution also asks the city’s Department of the Environment to consider reducing purchases of agricultural products derived from animals using non-therapeutic antibiotics and residents of the city and county of San Francisco to reduce or eliminate their consumption of such products. See Food & Water Watch News Release, September 15, 2014.