Livestock Producers Divided on Use of Antibiotics

The New York Times has published a report exploring the debate among meat producers, scientists and regulators on the role of antibiotics in cattle feed. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has banned the use of antibiotics for livestock growth, but many producers continue to use the prescription-only substances for disease prevention. The debate centers on concern that overuse may create disease-resistant bacteria. According to the article, one feedlot has begun limiting the use of drugs, although it uses antibiotics to treat liver abscesses and intestinal diseases. An executive for the feedlot reportedly told the Times, “Antibiotic resistance is a fact of life, no two ways about it. We want to make sure that by virtue of our using these products we’re not contributing to it.” Other cattle producers and veterinarians reportedly said they have not seen “clear evidence” that antibiotics are causing increased bacterial resistance.

The Times also interviewed a researcher who tracks microbes in the human gut as well as antibiotic resistance. “Both on the farm and in human medicine, we’ve become addicted to antibiotics,” Martin Blaser, director of the Human Microbiome Program at New York University, is quoted as saying. “We’re using them as if there was no biological cost to using them. And there are costs.” He further calls the use of antibiotic tylosin in animal feed “a genuinely bad idea because of cross-resistance.”