BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT
Video Monitoring Services of America, Inc.
(FAX)
Date July 05, 2005
Time 07:00 AM - 08:00 AM
Station ABC
Location Network
Program Good Morning America
ROBIN ROBERTS, co-anchor:
Now to the new warnings about antibiotics in the food chain. Most of us think of an antibiotic as something we take only when we get sick, but a new study finds that we are actually drowning in antibiotics, that we're exposed to them through the meat and poultry we buy at the supermarket, even through the air, soil and groundwater.
The big concern is that overexposure to antibiotics can wipe out their ability to help fight disease. So we're joined now by GOOD MORNING AMERICA medical contributor Dr.David Katz.
David let's start out with the new study. It's titled "Agricultural Antibiotics and Human Health." What does it say?
Dr. DAVID KATZ (Medical Contributor): Well, Robin these researchers did some mathematical modeling to compare the risk of getting exposed to antibiotic resistant germs from the food we eat as opposed to getting it from a hospital where we expect to run into these germs. They found the risk from food may exceed that of transmission in hospitals.
ROBERTS: So what exactly is antibiotic resistance?
Dr. KATZ: Well fundamentally, Robin, this is a case of survival of the fittest. Antibiotics are drugs we use to kill the germs that cause infection. When germs are exposed to these drugs; the ones that are most resistant survive and then their offspring are all somewhat resistant.
If that goes on for awhile you wind up with germs that can't be killed by antibiotics. So at the end of this there is real danger for us, because we may get infections, use the antibiotics that should cure them, and we won't get any better.
ROBERTS: Cause we're resistant to them.
Dr. KATZ: The germs that cause these infections are just not killed by the antibiotics anymore.
ROBERTS: All right, so you're going to the supermarket today as a consumer. What can you buy--what can you do to help to prevent this from happening?
Dr. KATZ: All right well good question, and there are a couple of things that consumers can do. The first is to choose organic foods. So if we look over here in all of these categories--chicken, steak, eggs, and vegetables--there are organic counterparts.
In most supermarkets there's organic chicken, organic milk and eggs, and organic produce. When that's available to you--if you can find it and afford it, it's a great choice. And it's also a way to cast your vote at the checkout counter of your supermarket for safer and more reasonable agricultural practices.
But you know, in some places in the country it's very hard to find organic food and it's also quite costly. So the next thing you can do is practice safe techniques in your kitchen.
That means cooking all animal products thoroughly. Cook your meat thoroughly, and also don't use the same surfaces for meat that you use for vegetables. Use different cutting boards and different utensils to avoid what we call cross get onto vegetables that you don't cook, and that's probably how people get exposed.
ROBERTS: Well I'm glad you brought up that last point, because so many of us--it is expensive, the organic materials.
Dr. KATZ: Absolutely. Although if more and more of us shop for it, the prices will come down.
ROBERTS: That's a good headline. Denmark was first and then the European Union as far as banning the use of antibiotics in their feed animals. The US has taken a more cautious approach to this.
Dr. KATZ: Well, in some ways we're more cautious about the science we have. Europe basically said, 'You know, we're not sure. We don't know how to measure exactly the risk of getting resistant germs from food, but we think it can happen. Let's not put antibiotics into feed animals.' In the US we've said, 'We don't have strong science. Let's wait until we do.'
Frankly, I think Europe got this right, and there's been a natural experiment over the years where the avoidance of
using antibiotics in feed animals has lowered the rate of
antibiotic resistant germs in Europe as compared to the US. So I think we actually have the result.
The other thing is the way that we mass produce feedanimals in this country produces other dangers. You know,Robin, recently in the news we had mad cow disease. That,too, is a product of the way we're raising these animals.
I think we should change our agricultural practices. Our consumers can do something in their kitchens, but we need
the Agricultural Department to do something about the food supply.
ROBERTS: All right, David, thank you very much. And I'vegot dibs on that steak over there.
Dr. KATZ: All right, you can have it.
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