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Antibiotics are not given to animals for health reasons (at least not primarily). The antibiotics somehow help the animals grow faster for reasons that are not
by rjf72 7y ago
Antibiotics are not given to animals for health reasons (at least not primarily). The antibiotics somehow help the animals grow faster for reasons that are not well understood. As a not so fun fact the vast majority of all antibiotics in the US end up being given to animals.
- dpark 7y agoThey are given for health reasons. It’s no longer legal in the US to give cattle antibiotics to encourage faster growth. It is legal to give them antibiotics to prevent/treat the liver abscesses they frequently develop as a result of their diet in the feed lot.
- Ididntdothis 7y agoThey are being given an extremely unsuitable diet so they need antibiotics to deal with this. It’s pretty bad.
- rjf72 7y agoThe FDA rules left a number of loopholes. Overall usage has declined and in some cases quite substantially, but they're still being misused. For instance animals can still be given antibiotics as a 'preventative measure.' In 2017, there were still 2.3 million kg of antibiotics sold for usage in cattle alone. [1] To try to give that number some context there are about 95 million head of cattle in the US, so that works out 24g per cow per year even at the current reduced rate. Actually creates quite a sick motivation system if the FDA does close the loopholes. Growers would have an incentive for their animals to develop conditions requiring antibiotics, so long as it did not significantly risk the animal's health. [1] - http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2018/12/fda-reports-major-drop-antibiotics-food-animals http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2018/12/fda-repor...