Antibiotic resistance is a growing problem worldwide, including in Washington state. While antibiotic overuse is an issue in human medicine, the volume of antibiotics used in animal agriculture vastly overshadows it.
Sick livestock should be treated appropriately, but to use these precious drugs for growth promotion or to maintain unhealthy living conditions imposes a worrisome and unnecessary risk of the development of antibiotic-resistant superbugs. Without effective antibiotics, we could not safely perform surgeries or administer chemotherapy due to the risk of infection. As infectious diseases doctors, we see the realities of these resistant infections all too often and the unnecessary suffering that accompanies them.
As consumers, we can change how antibiotics are used among animals. We can tell major restaurants to only buy meat from farms that do not routinely use antibiotics. In the past year, both McDonald’s and Subway started phasing out routine antibiotic use through their suppliers, but we need KFC, Olive Garden, and others to follow suit.
Safe medical care and the overall health of our communities, present and future, depend on the decisions we make now to address this urgent problem.
