More on Antibiotic Resistance

More on Antibiotic Resistance. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture.

The Animal Agriculture Alliance has released a report that provides a stark contrast to a report from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for a Livable Future. Dr. Richard Raymond, former USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety Inspection Service talks about the claim by Johns Hopkins that the use of antibiotics in livestock production is leading to antibiotic resistance in humans.

RAYMOND: I was just in Switzerland two weeks ago speaking to the international poultry conference about the use of antibiotics in poultry across the world. I bought a hamburger one night and it cost me $105 U.S. dollars for a hamburger. That is what will happen if we have to change our ag practices to what the Pew and others would like us to do. We are providing the safest and the most economical source of protein from meat in the world.

He also addressed those who point to Denmark which limited the use of growth promotant antibiotics in 1998.

RAYMOND: As having limited antibiotics for growth and prevention and therefore they've done a good job. What they did not say is since growth promotants were banned in 1998 Denmark has seen an increase in prescribed veterinary antimicrobial 110%. That's because animals are getting sick and they're treating populations of animals for illnesses with large doses of antibiotics. I do not believe that is the right track to help prevent antibiotic resistance in humans.

That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.