August 14, 2011
Antibiotic resistant bacteria is becoming an epidemic, and one theory is that it's due to the over-drugging of the livestock. A new University of Maryland study supports this claim.
The research shows that when chicken farms transition from conventional to organic practices and stop using antibiotics, a massively lower amount of drug-resistant bacteria is found.
One professor explains, "We initially hypothesized that we would see some differences in on-farm levels of antibiotic-resistant enterococci when poultry farms transitioned to organic practices. But we were surprised to see that the differences were so significant across several different classes of antibiotics even in the very first flock that was produced after the transition to organic standards."
This is great news, but lets see if the factory farms will even listen and make changes that will benefit the animals and humanity.
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