Most antibiotics produced in the United States are added to the feed and water of animals being raised for human consumption. These antibiotics are not intended to treat sick animals, but to accelerate growth and prevent diseases caused by overcrowded and unsanitary conditions on animal factories. This overuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture has serious consequences for our health. As bacteria develop resistance to these drugs, doctors are forced to prescribe antibiotics that are more costly and have more serious side effects. And even these more powerful antibiotics are losing their effectiveness to treat disease.

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and other organizations have long pressed meat producers and large purchasers of meat, like fast-food companies, to adopt a more responsible approach to antibiotic use in order to curb the increasing incidence of human diseases that are antibiotic resistant. Antibiotics are misused when these drugs are routinely added to the feed of animals that are not sick to promote faster animal growth or to prevent diseases—a practice that compensates for the overcrowded and unsanitary conditions on animal factory farms.

Scientists have established clear links between overuse of antibiotics in animal systems and the emergence of antibiotic-resistant illnesses. These hardier diseases are more severe, persist longer, and force doctors to prescribe drugs that cost more and cause more serious side effects.

While medical professionals across the country are working hard to curb unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions for sick human patients, the vast majority of these precious drugs are still used indiscriminately in animal feed.

Tyson Foods, the nation's largest producer of chicken, recently announced that it has begun to produce all of its fresh chicken without antibiotics and to sell the chicken in grocery stores under a "Raised Without Antibiotics" label. The company stated that it is converting nearly half of its facilities to supply this line of chicken. Chickens that get sick will be treated with antibiotics but will then be sold under other labels.

"By deciding to produce its fresh chicken without antibiotics, Tyson is taking an important step toward protecting public health from antibiotic-resistant disease, and UCS applauds them for it," said Margaret Mellon, Director of the UCS Food and Environment Program. "An estimated 70 percent of antibiotics and related drugs in the United States are fed to healthy pigs, cows, and chickens to promote growth and prevent disease, according to UCS research. That's eight times the amount of antibiotics used to treat diseases in humans. Studies show that the use of antibiotics like tetracycline and erthyromycin in animal agriculture leads to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that cause human illness and doctors are increasingly finding that the antibiotics they prescribe are less and less effective"