Industrialized Livestock: Antibiotic Roots

The industrialization of our livestock can be attributed to the adoption of the Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO). CAFOs have allowed farmers to gather thousands of animals in confined spaces to boost meat production at more affordable prices, a scenario that leads to the clear threat of bacteria and diseases that can be transmitted to humans.

Farmers turned to administering antibiotics in the early 1940s to try and help reduce the threat of these bacteria and diseases. Ironically the same antibiotics that were administered are the same ones today creating new strands that are more powerful and anti-resistant to antibiotics. 

Today's antibiotic-resistant food borne bacteria threats stem from the  over administration of antibiotics, the primary causes of which are: 

• the research and development of antibiotics in the 1940s
• the FDA approval of livestock antibiotics in 1951
• the Nixon farm subsidies in 1973 

Alexander Fleming, the discover of penicillin, mentioned in a speech, "Penicillin was the first antibiotic... but it was not until the early 1940s that its true potential was acknowledged and a large scale fermentation process was developed for the production of antibiotics". The antibiotics allowed farmers to maintain animals, expedite their growth process and produce more animals in less time for less cost. Influenced by lobbying from wealthy meat and pharmaceutical industries, the FDA's approval of livestock antibiotics in 1951 came prior to any real understanding of the dangers of drug resistant bacteria. The approval allowed farmers to look for alternate more cost efficient ways to administer antibiotics to their livestock and found that in the Agricultural and Consumer Protection Act enacted by president Nixon in 1973. The act provided subsidies to farm families to continue to produce mass quantities of valued commodities, such as wheat, corn and soybean products. Today about 55-65 percent of corn and 40-50 percent of soybeans are converted to feed livestock, which farmers use to administer antibiotics. Alone in 2009 roughly about 28.8 million pounds of approved antimicrobial drugs were distributed to food-producing animals. 

In the last seven decades there has been a clear correlation between industrialized food and antibiotics . The agribusiness and pharmaceutical industries have contributed major lobbying power that has over-shadowed the efforts of food activists such as Michael Pollan http://michaelpollan.com/, Louise M. Slaughter and animal rights organizations such as The Humane Society, who all diligently fight to create awareness for the fight against livestock antibiotics, animal cruelty and injustice.