Food and Water Watch, which works to ensure the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainably produced is hosting a campaign kickoff event in Austin this Thursday (9/16).
The focus of this campaign is the overuse of antibiotics in factory farming. 80% of antibiotics are used on factory farms, mostly as part of routine feeding, not for treating any specific illness in the animals. This is done to help the animals overcome the deplorable conditions they are raised in.
Antibiotic overuse poses a health risk to people by allowing bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics to develop. The few bacteria that survive an antibiotic dose reproduce quickly and create a strain of bacteria that is resistant to antibiotics. This leaves some human infections with no cure. According to the CDC:
Each year in the United States, at least 2 million people become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics and at least 23,000 people die each year as a direct result of these infections. Many more people die from other conditions that were complicated by an antibiotic-resistant infection.
Because the FDA and Congress haven’t done enough to deal with this urgent problem, cities across the country are acting by passing resolutions telling Congress we need legislation now to save antibiotics and stop their misuse on factory farms. This event is the beginning of this effort in Austin.
