Nicholas Kristof Joins "No Antibiotics in Animals" Fight

The drum beat protesting the needless administering of antibiotics to our farm animals just got a little louder. In yesterday's paper, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof used the recent E. coli outbreak in Germany to segue into a discussion of the topic:

"Perhaps the most disgraceful aspect of our agricultural system — I say this as an Oregon farmboy who once raised sheep, cattle and hogs — is the way antibiotics are recklessly stuffed into healthy animals to make them grow faster."

I've discussed this topic several times recently, including last week after South Korea became the latest country to ban antibiotics. A Kristof column, though, will raise awareness exponentially.

Kristof uses a great analogy, one which should make us all reconsider our purchasing decisions:

"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."

Shouldn't antibiotic-free beef, chicken and pork be the rule, not the exception?

Click here to read Kristof's entire column.