This article discusses upcoming FDA restrictions on the quantity and types of antibiotics that farmers can use in the animals they farm.
An overhaul and close examination of our food industry has been in order for some time. The amount of chemicals, pesticides, antibiotics, and other toxins that Americans unknowingly consume in their food is alarming and can have disastrous consequences, such as increases in certain types of cancers, allergies, and infections.
Hopefully this will draw more attention to the dangers of mass-produced food and encourage Americans to eat in a more sustainable, responsible, and organically-based way, along with setting precedents for an FDA that is not corrupted by corporate greed.
I too hope this will draw more attention to the public about what chemicals are in the food they eat. I'm not sure if any of you have ever seen Food Inc, but after watching that film I would never eat certain meat items anymore. Not only are farmers putting tons of antibiotics into their cows, but they are also feeding them corn now instead of grass. All of these changes have more or less changed farming to mass production. A farmer's goal is to make the same product, at the lowest price, and as quick as possible. Taking care of the animal or not feeding it bad antibiotics to make it bigger are no longer in a farmer's best interest and we need to change that notion.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both comments and that the FDA must have the best intentions for the consumers in mind.
ReplyDeleteThe article states that debates on the safety of antibiotics for animals have been a heavily debated subject for decades. Medical experts have stated “it contributes to… the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, including dangerous E. coli strains that account for millions of bladder infections each year, as well as resistant types of salmonella and other microbes.”
The FDA has said that it will create a policy in the near future that will restrict antibiotic use as well as increasing the role of veterinarians.
This could be an important new restriction because it is showing that the FDA cares for the consumer and not about how this could increase the cost of raising and therefore purchasing meat.
While experts are still not positive of the safety involved in using antibiotics, it is therefore correct for them to restrict the use of them. As medical tests continue and we learn more about the affects, changes in policy will continue.
posted by: Alec King