Antibiotics in feed and E.coli

Here is an interesting note that I pulled from the Union for Concerned Scientists, a science-based nonprofit working for a healthy environment and a safer world.


According to a new study, resistant E. coli infections in humans come from antibiotics given to conventional feedlot animals. The study noted that E. coli strains on meat most likely develop resistance as a direct consequence of antibiotic use in food animals. Read the study (pdf) and commentary (pdf) in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

"The agricultural industry often pretends that the science supporting the link between antibiotic use in livestock and resistant bacterial infections in humans is incomplete. This is yet another study proving the connection." ~ Margaret Mellon, Food & Environment Program Director