Our Work

In California, we have been working to address the overuse of antibiotics in the food system.  In February 2009, Senator Dean Florez (CA-16) introduced a bill, S.B. 416, to prohibit the use of nontherapeutic antibiotics in animal agriculture starting in 2015. It would also implement a purchasing policy for state and local governments that favors meats produced without the use of nontherapeutic antibiotics.

Join us in supporting S.B. 416. Learn more about the bill.

Antibiotics Background

Many of our nation’s large livestock operations routinely feed healthy animals low doses of antibiotics in order to boost their growth and prevent disease from spreading among animals housed in close – and often unhygienic – quarters. This practice goes against everything we’ve been taught about proper antibiotic use: always get a prescription from a doctor, don’t take them if you’re not sick, and always take them as directed.

Today, the amount of antibiotics fed to healthy animals dwarfs the amount used to treat sick ones. Half of the antibiotics fed to animals are either the same or very similar to the antibiotics that are given to humans when they are sick – including critical drugs like penicillin and tetracycline.

This is concerning news for public health.

It’s bad enough for consumers to get a foodborne illness, but when they go to the doctor to be treated, some find that their illnesses do not respond to antibiotics because the bacteria that caused the sickness are drug-resistant. That means higher healthcare costs for consumers and public services and a greater chance that the illness will lead to death.

Unless steps are taken to curb the overuse of antibiotics, we may soon discover that we can no longer treat common illnesses quickly and effectively. The American Medical Association, the World Health Organization, and other prominent medical authorities have called for a ban on feeding antibiotics to animals that are not sick.