Antibiotics

KAW comments to Montana Department of Agriculture re natural beef program

KAW's recommendations to the Montana Department of Agriculture to include among its certification criteria for Montana Certified Natural Beef a requirement that cattle not be given medically important antibiotics for non-therapeutic purposes.

FDA Action Urged as Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Caused by Animal Farms Threaten Americans

KAW press release regarding evidence showing that the use of drugs in livestock is contributing to the current methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) epidemic in Europe and suggests it could play a similar role here.

Group Letter to FDA re: U.S. Livestock May Be Reservoir for MRSA

Comment to FDA expressing concerns that the agency is not pursuing the likelihood that U.S. livestock operations are a reservoir for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and the FDA is not responding to NARMS data indicating the emergence in the United States of Enterobacteriaceae resistant to cephalosporins.

First concentrate on the farm

The Nov. 24 commentary by pro-irradiation advocate Michael Osterholm ignores a number of unresolved health concerns with respect to irradiating food (e.g. possible vitamin depletion, threats to public safety from introducing additional radiation sources into communities, etc.).

New Study Links Animal Agriculture to More Than 20% of MRSA Infections in the Netherlands

A new study published in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Emerging Infectious Diseases links a new strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA), once found only in pigs, to more than 20 percent of all human MRSA infections in the Netherlands.

MRSA and Animal Antibiotic Use

A new study published in the scientific journal Veterinary Microbiology should cause the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take notice. The study's findings suggest the agency might start looking at confined hog operations as a possible source for the deadly methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureaus (MRSA).

New Study Reveals MRSA Bacteria Common Among Pigs and Farm Workers

KAW press release announcing a new study published in Veterinary Microbiology found methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) prevalent in Canadian pig farms and pig farmers, pointing to animal agriculture as a source of the deadly bacteria. The Veterinary Microbiology study (Khanna et al. 2007) is the first to show that North American pig farms and farmers commonly carry MRSA

University of Illinois Researchers Trace Antibiotics Use on Hog Farms to Antibiotics Resistance Genes in Groundwater

A recent study by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has linked the routine use of the antibiotic tetracycline, popular in swine production, to the presence of antibiotics resistance genes in groundwater.

Antibiotics Used to Promote Growth in Chickens Increase Resistance to Medicine that Cures Food Poisoning in Humans

KAW press release about U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) researchers who have shown that feeding chickens the antibiotic tylosin to promote growth – not to treat disease – greatly increases the number of erythromycin-resistant Campylobacter on chicken carcasses. Erythromycin, a drug vital for treating severe food poisoning in humans, is a close cousin of tylosin.