Pre-emptive attacks seem to always have unintended consequences
Good news
out of California.
Signed by Governor Jerry Brown on Saturday, the law bans the use of medically important antibiotics to promote growth in cows, chickens, pigs, and other animals raised for profit. Meat producers will only be able to administer the drugs with the approval of a veterinarian when animals are sick, or to prevent infections when there's an "elevated risk." They can't use the drugs "in a regular pattern." The policy is more restrictive than the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's national guidelines, which don't restrict use for disease prevention.
Antibiotics being administered to livestock began with the best intentions. Make sure the animals are healthy, keep disease and infection rates down and your farm-produced meats will be healthier and safer for public consumption. Somewhere along the line, the "invisible hand" of the marketplace began administering antibiotics willy-nilly to any and all livestock,
regardless of their health.
The problem with feeding antibiotics to animals that are not sick is that it kills off weak bacteria and creates the perfect environment for antibiotic-resistant bacteria to multiply and thrive. When the meat industry routinely misuses and overuses antibiotics in this way, it threatens public health when essential drugs no longer work to treat infections. This makes us all less safe.
It wasn't that long ago—let's say five years ago—when lobbyists and "scientists" for the meat industry said everything from "we don't use
too many antibiotics" to "I'm not a scientist."
“We use antibiotics judiciously and responsibly to protect the health of our herds and to produce safe pork,” said Craig Rowles, a pork producer and veterinarian. “We know that a ban on antibiotics, like the one in Denmark, will have adverse affects on our pigs, will raise the cost of production, and will not provide a benefit to public health.”
In the CBS series, Dr. Liz Wagstrom, the chief veterinarian for the National Pork board echoed the same concerns. “If we did the same thing in the United States, we would have more sick and dying pigs and none of that would result in a benefit to the U.S. consumer,” Wagstrom told Couric in the interview.
There are two takeaways:
Pretending the writing on the wall isn't on the wall is big businesses repeated and desperate MO but things do change, even if you have to bite your tongue so as to not just compulsively say "I told you so" at infinitum.