Op-Ed Profiles Farmer Targeting Antibiotics in Cattle

A New York Times opinion piece has detailed the efforts of Sandy Lewis, an organic cattle farmer, to persuade fellow ranchers and others in the agriculture industry not to administer antibiotics for growth in cattle. Lewis, a former arbitrageur, has called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ban and criminalize the use of antibiotics before cattle are sick, a prophylactic use acceptable under the agency’s regulation banning antibiotics for growth promotion. The piece echoes a March 2018 report from the New York Times on the effects of antibiotic use in cattle feed on antibiotic resistance and gut microbes.