The amount of medicines given to animals on factory farms are estimated to be above 70 percent, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. In order to keep the animals healthy, the farmers must routinely feed pigs, chickens, and cattle their antibiotics. Because these drugs help these animals grow at a faster rate, the use of antibiotics help keep our supply well kept.(Michael Pollan, 2007)
From “Our Decrepit Food Factories” by Michael Pollan
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/magazine/16wwln-lede-t.html?_r=2&oref=slogin
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ReplyDeleteFrom “Our Decrepit Food Factories” by Michael Pollan
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/magazine/16wwln-lede-t.html?_r=2&oref=slogin
The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that at least 70 percent of the antibiotics used in America are fed to animals living on factory farms. Raising vast numbers of pigs or chickens or cattle in close and filthy confinement simply would not be possible without the routine feeding of antibiotics to keep the animals from dying of infectious diseases. That the antibiotics speed up the animals’ growth also commends their use to industrial agriculture, but the crucial fact is that without these pharmaceuticals, meat production practiced on the scale and with the intensity we practice it could not be sustained for months, let alone decades.