Meet Your Meat: Antibiotics

Interesting article in the Feb/March 2009 issue of Mother Earth News that looks the problems of continuous use of antibiotics in confinement-style animal raising. Read the whole article here.

1. Historically, we have been close to animals, so many contagious, human diseases have close animal ancestors (pertussis from pigs, flu from birds, TB and the cold from cattle)
2. Oceans of Concentrated Manure, filled with antibiotic resistant microbes (pic)
   
3. And finally, the problem impacts nearby (and even regional) farms that don't use antibiotics:
   

'The costs associated with continuing industrial farm animal production are enormous. If it’s allowed to continue, industrial production as currently practiced could eventually eliminate a lot of other farming options (in addition to making a lot of us sick). As one Midwestern organic farmer explained to me, it’s simply not possible to raise pigs organically if you live too close to a confinement facility: the pathogen pressure is too intense. “Iowa has become a sink for pig diseases,” he said. "They’re just in the air, and you can’t avoid them.'

Know what your choices mean for your planet. And for your animals - the ones you eat and the ones you buy. Choose wisely - choose humanely - choose your farmer well.