Livestock drugs threaten human health, FDA says

Hampton, Ia. – The young hogs that Larry Sailer raises will get a series of antibiotics before they wind up on anyone’s table as pork chops and bacon.

But one of the drugs used here and on other farms isn’t designed to treat or ward off illness. That antibiotic fattens hogs on less feed, shaving farm production costs and boosting profits.

Doctors and public health experts have long worried that there’s a human price to using drugs this way – and President Barack Obama’s administration is listening.

The Food and Drug Administration says overuse of the drugs in livestock is increasing the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that threaten human health. Read More…