Antibiotics in Beef

* Your March 15 editorial, “It’s a Matter of Health,” raised the question of whether antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, potentially harmful to humans, were created through use of low levels of antibiotics mixed with livestock feed to promote animal growth. Your readers should know that when this concern first was raised in the mid-1980s, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Assn. and the California Cattlemen’s Assn. discouraged the practice of “sub-therapeutic feeding” of antibiotics to cattle to promote growth.

America’s beef producers also care about responsible therapeutic use of antibiotics to treat illness in cattle. In February the NCBA approved a policy that supports the American Veterinary Medical Assn.’s effort to establish guidelines for judicious use of antibiotics in livestock, calls for cattle producers to strive to limit the need for anti-microbial use through sound husbandry and preventive practices and urges ongoing continuing education.

JERRY HEMSTED, President

California Cattlemen’s Assn.

Sacramento