Lest anyone doubt that the way we produce food in this country is dangerous, a new report from the Food and Drug Administration shows that 80% of all antibiotics used in America go to livestock. Farm animals in North Carolina alone consume more antibiotics than all the humans in the nation. 

 

Worried about superbugs? Boycotting Purell won’t cut it. The meat industry is creating resistant pathogens at an astonishing rate. Our zealous use of antibiotics to keep animals alive in horribly unsanitary conditions has been creating incurable diseases. Superpowered bacterial infections can kill people in weeks. If we do see a pandemic in the near future, statistics suggest it will arise from the agricultural industry. 

 

Efforts to enforce stricter production standards on the industry have been blocked. Antibiotic misuse makes for cheaper meat, and Big Ag doesn’t want to cut profits. But the results of their irresponsibility is showing. MRSA, one of the most common superbugs, now kills more people annually than AIDS. The strain has been found in 45% of hog farm workers. Working in the meat industry is getting less and less safe.

 

Even eating in this country carries its own risks. 5,000 people die of food-borne illnesses every year. Vegetarians aren’t exempt from poisoning, either; water containing E. coli can spill into vegetable irrigation. But eating vegetarian does stave off the profits of the meat industry, in however small a way. 

 

We’ve all heard the ethical and environmental reasoning for vegetarianism. But it’s becoming clearer that factory farming isn’t just bad for the animals caught within it. It’s a giant public health hazard lying dormant. The only way to curtail it is to enforce stricter standards on Big Agriculture. To pass legislation that would ban the force-feeding of antibiotics to animals en masse. The conditions in factory farms aren’t just horrific for the animals; they’re breeding grounds for some scary microorganisms. Until we can ensure responsible farming practices for the industry, eating meat is bad news for all of us.