GROWING RESISTANCE

This is the abstract from the article by the same title in EatingWell magazine. Every single family in America should read this article to understand why there are so many immune system disorders, and why so many children are obese.

“There is the danger that the ignorant man may easily underdose himself and by exposing his microbes to non-lethal quantities of the drug make them resistant.”

-          Sir Alexander Fleming

on accepting the 1945 Nobel Prize in medicine for the discovery of penicillin.

•  80% of the antibiotics used in the United States are fed to livestock in low doses to help them grow in often-crowded conditions. In much of Europe (where these cows graze free-range) this practice is banned. Main reason for that is to speed off their growth and increase the body mass.

• In 2011 7.7 M pounds of antibiotics was sold to treat sick people, and 29.9 M pounds to animals.

• “Each year an estimated 900.000 cases of antibiotic-resistant infections cost society up to $26 billion in additional healthcare costs and lead to tens of thousands of deaths.”

      The real tragedy of subtherapeutic antibiotic use is that it is necessary. Before joining Niman, Paul Willis administrated antibiotics to his hogs. “And we had more health problems with our animals then than now,” he said, when Sarah and I met him at a café. “Going antibiotic-free is not only good for people, but animals as well.” Studies in Denmark, a major pork-producing country that banned subtherapeutic antibiotics in 2000 (followed by the rest of the European Union in 2006), confirm Paul Willis’s observations. In Denmark, incidences of resistant bacteria fell dramatically, in both people and animals, after the ban. Pork production rose.

A Demand for Drug-Free

      For Willis, though, “it was a customer issue. My biggest customers pushed for the animals to be free from antibiotics, so I banned drugs.”  Companies that now refuse to sell meat produced with antibiotics include Whole Foods Market and Chipotle Mexican Grill, and the list is growing. Hyatt Hotels now offers antibiotic-free options at all its restaurants. At a time when sales of most meat and poultry products are flat, antibiotic-free meat sales are climbing at a rate of 10 to 15 percent annually and sales from antibiotic-free pork alone now approach $500 million a year, according to Kevin Kimle, a faculty member in the economics department at Iowa State University.

      Everly Macario is convinced that conscientious shoppers are the key to boosting those numbers. “If we buy only antibiotic-free meat, then demand for conventional meat will drop and more farmers will stop drugging their animals. It’s something every shoppers can do.” She does not stop at shopping: Macario helped found the MRSA Research Center at the University of Chicago Medical Center. She also became the leader of Supermoms Against Superbugs, which met with food-policy legislators in Washington, D.C., in 2012 to discuss ways to keep antibiotics viable.

       But to date, there has been no solid progress. Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, a Democrat from upstate New York and a microbiologist by training, has repeatedly tried to legislate limits on the use of the drug in animals, without success. In an email, slaughter said, “With the threat of antibiotics resistance higher than ever, I will once again introduce the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act at the start of the 113th Congress. As the science continues to make clear, there is no more time for delay.”

       Macario is frustrated. But while the FDA stonewalls and Congress dithers in the face of intense lobbying from agribusiness and pharmaceutical companies, there is one way to effect change.

       “I love meat,” Macario said during our visit to the supermarket. “I crave it. I’m originally from Argentina. My grandfather raised cattle.” At the store, Macario zeroed in onRain Crow Ranch grass-fed steaks. The package was not labeled “antibiotic-free,” but Macario had researched the company and its farms and was confident that they never used antibiotics. The steaks, at $21.99 a pound, were pricier than the same cuts raised with antibiotics (though the Consumer Reports survey found that many antibiotic-free meats cost the same or in some cases less). All the other meats, dairy products and eggs she chose had similar assurances of avoiding antibiotics.

“When I shop for food, I always try to remember what one consumer advocate in Washington told me,” Macario said. “Congress and big agricultural interests are scared to death of moms.”

BARRY ESTABROOK’s last feature for EatingWell, “Sweet Summer Corn” (July/August 2012), is a finalist for the 2013 Best Greene Award for “Writing That Makes a Difference.” EatingWell produced this antibiotics feature in collaboration with the Food and Environment Reporting Network, an independent, non-profit news organization producing investigative reporting on food, agriculture and environmental health.

Labels to Look For:

      More and more farmers are avoiding antibiotics. Here’s how to find their products.

USDA Certified Organic

Dairy, eggs, meat, poultry

The USDA ensures that foods with the certified USDA Organic label come from animals that have never had antibiotics.

American Grassfed Certified

Beef, dairy, lamb

This label guarantees that the animal was never given antibiotics. (In contrast, “100% Grass Fed” with the USDA Process Verified shield means that the cows were fed a lifetime diet of 100 percent grass and forage. It does not exclude antibiotics.)

Wild-Caught Fish

There is no USDA organic certification for fish, so the “organic” labels you see can mean anything. Farmed fish are typically fed antibiotics. The best bet: wild-caught.

Animal Welfare Approved

Dairy, eggs, meat, poultry

This label does not allow subtherapeutic antibiotics. Sick animals must be treated and can still be sold as AWA, as long as slaughter or milking is delayed until after twice the length of the regulated withdrawal period.

Certified Humane Raised and Handled

Dairy, eggs, meat, poultry

This certification (not to be confused with American Humane Certified) is endorsed by several animal-welfare and food-safety organizations, including the ASPCA. Animals are raised on a diet without antibiotics. Antibiotics are allowed to treat sick animals, but only under veterinary supervision.

No Added Antibiotics/No Antibiotics Administrated

Dairy, eggs, meat, piltry

Variations of “no antibiotics added” can be meaningful. For meat and pultry only, the label means the animal never received antibiotics. With this claim, look for the USDA Process Verified shield, which shows the company paid to verify it. (Backing by a private certifier, such as Global Animal Partnership for Whole Foods meat, is equally reliable.)

DON’T BOTHER

Natural

The USDA applies this claim only to fresh meat when nothing has been added to the cut meat itself, such as color. The cow (or pig or lamb) could still have been raised on an antibiotic diet and the term isn’t regulated.

Antibiotic-Free/No Antibiotic Residues

The USDA does not authorize these claims. Since no one approves them, they can mean anything.

-          Gretel H. Schueller

       P.S. Bacteria are reproductive dynamos; a single Staph can divide every 30 minutes, meaning that one resistant bacterium is able to erupt into a colony of more than 1 million in less than a day. In the presence of a nonlethal dose of antibiotics, bacteria can mutate to become resistant, breeding a new strain.

        Knowing that, at Renu we do not take any risk. All our metal implements, tweezers included are sterilized in autoclave, or implements with pores are disposable.