In regards to the story headlined “Southwest Memorial Hospital a leader in antibiotic stewardship” (Journal, Jan. 12) I want to thank The Journal, for drawing attention to a pressing issue.
Antibiotic resistance is, one of the largest growing threats to public health. However, in order to deal this issue, the solution does not only lie in what our doctors are prescribing us, but how our meat is being raised.
The biggest users of antibiotics are large, industrial farms. Daily doses are given to farm animals for growth and to combat abhorrent living conditions. Overall, 70 percent of medically important antibiotics are used not on humans, but on livestock.
In order for antibiotics to be kept working, we need to limit the use to when animals are sick. None of us wants to live in an era where we are once again, powerless to fight against infections such as MRSA or gonorrhea.
Restaurants who buy from factory farms can influence the change. In recent victories, McDonalds pledged to stop selling poultry raised with antibiotics, and soon after Tyson pledged to phase antibiotics out of all their chicken. We must call on restaurants to follow suit, to protect public health and stop selling meat raised on antibiotics.
Varsha Nair
Denver