When Food Kills - Know what you are eating

When Food Kills

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

Here are some highlights from a wonderful article that anyone who consumes food should read. I am not just speaking to those who eat meat, but also to vegetarians.... EVERYONE!

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/opinion/12kristof.html

Antibiotics are recklessly stuffed into healthy animals to make them grow faster.

The Food and Drug Administration reported recently that 80 percent of antibiotics in the United States go to livestock, not humans. And 90 percent of the livestock antibiotics are administered in their food or water, typically to healthy animals to keep them from getting sick when they are confined in squalid and crowded conditions.

The single state of North Carolina uses more antibiotics for livestock than the entire United States uses for humans.

We would never think of trying to keep our children healthy by adding antibiotics to school water fountains, because we know this would breed antibiotic-resistant bacteria. It’s unconscionable that Big Ag does something similar for livestock.

“These statistics tell the tale of an industry that is rampantly misusing antibiotics in an attempt to cover up filthy, unsanitary living conditions among animals,” Slaughter said. “As they feed antibiotics to animals to keep them healthy, they are making our families sicker by spreading these deadly strains of bacteria.”

Vegetarians may think that they’re immune, but they’re not. E. coli originates in animals but can spill into water used to irrigate vegetables, contaminating them.

We need "more public education". Take a second and know where your food is coming from. Are you supporting agriculture that encourages antibiotics or one that could possibly harm you and your family?

Here is the link again....

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/opinion/12kristof.html

Thoughts and comments appreciated