Limit the Use of Human Antibiotics in Livestock that are Not Sick
The inappropriate use of human antibiotics on factory farms is seen as one of the culprits in the 2 million illnesses and 23,000 deaths caused by drug-resistant bacteria each year in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Please ask your Maryland legislators to support proposed legislation that will eliminate the practice of routinely giving human antibiotics to farm animals that are not sick—before it is too late.
Senate Bill 422 and House Bill 602 allow use of antibiotics to treat sick animals and control disease outbreaks but ban the routine, non-therapeutic use of medically important antibiotics in food-producing animals. We can help preserve the effectiveness of antibiotic drugs in humans by eliminating this practice on farms.
The American Academy of Pediatrics states: “Because of the link between antibiotic use in food-producing animals and the occurrence of antibiotic-resistant infections in humans, antibiotic agents should be used in food-producing animals only to treat and control infectious diseases and not to promote growth or to prevent disease routinely.”
Please urge your legislator to act now by clicking the link at right (your address will auto-generate the body of a pre-written letter to the correct members of the Maryland Senate and House).
Thank you in advance for your action!
