Editorial

Resistant to urgent action

July 8, 2010

Publication: The Everett Herald

Antibiotics, it’s what’s for dinner.

Antibiotics, the other white meat.

Antibiotics, it’s whatever the poultry industry’s slogan is.

As we wrap ourselves in anti-bacterial wipes, and at the same time wonder if perhaps we’ve oversantized ourselves into a potentially deadly cleanliness; as we watch fish warp before our eyes and wonder about everything we pour into our water, from pesticides to medicines; and as hospitals and communities battle outbreaks of fatal antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections, which are traced to the overuse of antibiotics, Americans continue to eat beef, chicken and pork that is pumped full of ... antibiotics.

Calling drug overuse “an urgent health issue,” the FDA in June urged farmers to quit feeding animals antibiotics. If farmers don’t comply voluntarily, the FDA said, it will issue new regulations, the Washington Post reported.

This slow approach to “an urgent health issue” makes no sense.

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Read the full editorial Resistant to urgent action on The Everett Herald website.