Thanks....here's the easy to click link.
Linda C

Here is a link that might be useful: Link to the FDA

I've already sent a letter.

I won't get on my soapbox about the government controlling every bite of food we consume, or the small farmer being driven out of business by the government and agribusiness.

Sigh. Their animals' health means nothing, and apparently, neither does ours. In our drive for cheap food, we've given up any hope of it being healthy, I suppose.

Annie

OK, it seems there are duplicate posts here, there are a couple of comments on the other one too.....

Annie

I wouldn't hop on the big farms just yet. Antibiotics have been a way of raising meat for decades! When I first got into raising rabbits for meat I bought a book from the farm store and followed the advice... right down to dosing them with tetracycline. Later I started thinking about what I was doing and stopped the antibiotics.

Profits are the root of the problem. Farmers will not "volunteer" to go out of business. If the guy next door can raise more meat faster then he will put you out of business leaving only antibiotic tainted meat anyway. This situation can only be corrected by a law.

Now that we have bashed antibiotics anyone want to take a shot at estrogen being added to the meat? LOL.... little wonder male fertility rates are falling and you have transgendered people posting on the forum. So much for macho men eating lots of red meat.

: )
lyra

Re estrogens: endocrine interrupters are produced from pesticides and plastics--phthalates and bisphenol A, bring on early puberty in girls, early male menopause (andropause), smaller testicles in boy babies, and are apparently active in obesity, diabetes and a whole range of other problems.

We are destroying ourselves.

Drug-resistant bacteria are a global problem, and not just due to US industrial agriculture. Here is a WebMD article about strains of drug-resistant gut bacteria that have spread from India/Pakistan to the UK and is starting to emerge in the US.

http://www.webmd.com/news/20100810/extremely-drug-resistant-infections-spreading-fast

As we saw with the H1N1 virus, communicable diseases can spread quickly around the world. Gut bacteria are not as easily transmitted as the flu, but they will still spread.

Most antibiotics are generic, cheap, and widely used, even in many developing countries. For decades now there has not been much profit in antibiotics, thus the drug companies have not invested much money/effort in developing new ones. Some smaller US drug companies have been working on antibiotics for MSRA (a type of resistant bacteria), and a couple of new drugs have made it to market. But most of the antibiotics available today were developed many decades ago - in fact, the most successful new MSRA drug is actually a compound developed some 20 years ago.

Similarly, for a long time hospitals did not have a big reason to take major precautions against MSRA. If a patient contracted a MSRA infection, the hospital was paid to treat the infection. Recently, the government changed the rules to penalize hospitals for MSRA cases (hospitals now must treat hospital-acquired MSRA without reimbursement) and in the last couple of years hospital-acquired MSRA rates seem to be starting to fall. This doesn't address community-aquired MSRA.

As mentioned already, industry - the drug, agricultural, and medical industries being no exception - will do what is most profitable or is required by law. Most countries have not made drug-resistant bacteria a priority, so there hasn't been enough carrot, or stick, applied to the problem. Yet. But when?

Realistically, major industry money will not be invested in developing drugs for a disease until that disease becomes a big problem in the USA or in Western Europe. No-one is going to invest $500MM with a 10% chance of success, just to sell new antibiotics to Pakistan. Just as AIDS drugs didn't become a major investment focus until the disease came to the USA.

Drug-resistant bacteria is not widely seen as a big problem in the USA. Yet. So I imagine the problem willl have to get worse before it gets better.

John - Timely post. Did you see this in today's news?

Here is a link that might be useful: Superbugs spreading to Europe

I didn't see that story, but similar to the WebMD link above.

Ah, sorry, quick reading. I'm not good a good reader, and links don't stand out at me unless they are, well, links!

I've been having constant low grade health problems related to inflammation and immunity. Nothing life threatening but bothersome. I don't eat meat so I just wonder what else in the environment could be causing it. Frankly, many, many of my friends and family suffer from immune system related illness, so it's not just me. And whatever is wrong with you it seems doctors almost immediately prescribe antibiotics. My own recent health woes are a case in point. I'm not totally dissing anti-biotics, I'm not suggesting we go back to the days when infectious diseases were the number one cause of death. I'm only soapboxing here because they are so VASTLY overused. And I agree with Lyra, nobody is going to give away something that gives them a competitive edge voluntarily. However, we as consumers can make a huge difference by educating ourselves as to what is in our foods, our cleaners, our cosmetics, our lawn products, and what the doctors are giving us. I can't believe how astounded the nurses are when I ask, "What is this stuff, or What's in this, or What exactly does this test for, etc." Half the time I don't even think they really know, they just know that the pharmaceutical company said to give it to patients.

Speak up, it does make a difference. I am seeing more and more stores indicating the source of their produce, meats and cheeses, which is probably due to consumer demand. Same with labels, READ them!

The FDA is notgoing to do anything to make difficult for the major food producers to make their profits. Oprah's show today was about the food we eat. Everyone has to look out for themselves and avoid all the processed and altered foods sold everywhere. It's too late for most of us to grow our own food. I'm not sure if we can even trust organic food, where do we go from here.. ? Support your local farmers' markets and local produce stands if you can. CF contributors can be very helpful to those that need advice to sharpen their culinary skills. This is a good place to start. Maybe it's time to consider the "V" diets.

Here is the other one:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/cooking/msg0805483525562.html?2