Report finds Iowa farmers are No. 1 at giving antibiotics to livestock
June 2, 2005
Washington, D.C. - Iowa leads the nation in feeding medically important antibiotics to livestock, an environmental group says.
A report released Wednesday by Environmental Defense estimates Iowa farmers annually feed their hogs and other livestock 2.2 million pounds of antibiotics that are similar to drugs used to treat human illnesses.
North Carolina ranks No. 2 at 1.7 million pounds.
That usage is a concern because scientists and federal regulators believe that bacteria are developing resistance to some human diseases, partly because of the widespread use of antibiotics in animal feed as growth promoters.
Officials with the drug and pork industries challenged the report, saying that it vastly overestimated the amount of antibiotics added to livestock feed and that the usage has declined sharply in recent years.
One of the report's authors, Rebecca Goldburg, acknowledged that the estimates are "rough approximations" of antibiotic usage. The government does not track the amount of antibiotics given to livestock.
She said such antibiotic usage is "very concentrated in certain parts of the country."
The report is based on 2001 estimates developed by another organization, the Union of Concerned Scientists, on the amount of antibiotics fed to different species of livestock.
Environmental Defense multiplied the earlier estimates by the number of livestock in each state and county in 2002, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department's latest census.
The Animal Health Institute, which represents manufacturers, estimates that the total antibiotic usage in both pets and livestock dropped from 24 million pounds in 1999 to 20.2 million pounds in 2003.
About 1.6 million pounds, or 8 percent of the total usage in 2003, was for growth promotion in livestock nationwide, according to the manufacturers' group.
Farmers have increased meat production at the same time they have reduced their use of antibiotics, said Ron Phillips, a spokesman for the group.
Studies suggest that people living where there is intensive use of antibiotics are at greater risk of getting drug-resistant infections, but more research is needed, said Ellen Silbergeld, a professor at Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health.Des Moines Register
