5-1 FB Tetracycline Use

 Are we as humans basically being used as test tubes?

 Article on the front page of the Idaho Statesman Sunday Edition had a headline that said “Does giving antibiotics to animals hurt humans?” An Associated Press writer said  “The bacon you had for breakfast is at the center of a 35 year debate over antibiotics. That’s because the same life-saving drugs that are prescribed to treat everything from ear infections to tuberculosis in humans also are used to fatten animals that we eat every day.” Antibiotic use in food-animal production has been a hot topic lately - with FDA regulations being made based on estimates of quantities of antibiotics used in livestock. Throughout the years there have been claims that farmers overuse antibiotics in their animals - also claiming that overuse led to health problems in people. Dr. Mike Apley, a  Professor of Veterinary Medicine - recently led a study using data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a survey of veterinarians. “What we found was we could identify uses for growth commotion, for prevention or control of disease and for treatment as reported by the producers. We had a series of drugs that were not entered by the FDA as important in human therapy and we had a group that are considered as important. The tetracyclines together made up the most commonly used group. ”

 There are 2 sides to every story but this is a dangerous situation that needs a lot of science.