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period, the European Union (EU) banned four animal antibiotics and proposed a total ban on the use of antibiotics as growth promoters. U.S. agencies finally developed plans for dealing with the problem in 1999 and 2000. These plans are already too little, too late. In 2001, the New England Journal of Medicine reported that up to 80% of meat packages—pork, chicken, or beef—collected from local supermarkets contained antibiotic-resistant bacteria. These bacteria survived a week or two in the intestines of people who ate them; if these people became ill, the antibiotics would not help.29 Beef, pork, and poultry producers—and drug manufacturers—continue to oppose restrictions on the use of antibiotics in animal agriculture. Their arguments: antibiotics are essential to their industries, most animal producers use antibiotics prudently, and the dangers of transfer of antibiotic resistance from animals to people are unproven. By one estimate, nearly 25 million pounds of antibiotics are used in animal agriculture, whereas just 3 million are used to treat human infections. Altogether, nearly three-fourths of all antibiotics are used for nontherapeutic purposes in animals. On this basis, consumer groups, food-safety alliances, and some members of Congress have called for outright bans on use of antibiotics in farm animals, except for therapeutic purposes.30

Given the disproportionate use of antibiotics in animal agriculture, it is not surprising that the drug industry opposes any suggestion to ban their use and much prefers “judicious use and robust surveillance” as control strategies.31 While the dispute rages on, the use of animal antibiotics continues. In this case, politics trumps science.

Two additional features of this situation are particularly compelling: (1) studies now indicate that induction of antibiotic resistance in bacteria is reversible, and (2) prevention of animal infections can be accomplished by means other than antibiotics. In 2002, Belgian researchers reported that banning certain antibiotics from use in animal feed decreases the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and makes the drugs more effective in treating microbial illness in hospital patients. In part as a result of such findings, three large poultry producers in the United States announced in 2002 that they would reduce or eliminate the use of antibiotics in feed for healthy chickens.32 This action—if diligently taken—is a useful step in reducing antibiotic resistance.

Another idea is to prevent the proliferation of E. coli O157:H7 in animals without using antibiotics by changing the way they are fed. Typically, producers feed cattle soy and corn to fatten the animals just before slaughter; these foods are low in fiber, reduce the acidity of digestive solutions, and promote the growth of unfriendly bacteria. In contrast, feeding high-fiber hay to ruminant animals selects for friendlier bacteria capable of breaking down cellulose to usable nutrients. Animals fed hay prior to slaughter generate less than 1% of the E. coli O157:H7 usually present in the feces of grain-fed animals, and they become free of the undesirable bacteria in just a few days. Adding certain strains of lactic acid bacteria—a friendly species—to cattle feed also interferes with the proliferation of E. coli O157:H7. The identification of E. coli O157:H7 infections in increasing numbers of farm animals makes such methods especially attractive as preventive measures.33 Such low-tech approaches are unlikely to appeal to meat producers concerned about putting the maximum possible weight on their animals, however, or to drug companies eager to continue selling antibiotics to meat producers; billions of dollars are at stake. The government cannot intervene in this matter because, as the next chapter explains, USDA authority begins at the slaughterhouse; the agency has no authority whatsoever over farm practices.

Evolving Dietary Preferences and Demographics

Changes in society and in the behavior of consumers also contribute to the spread of harmful bacteria in food. Table 5 (page