Letters: Antibiotic use in farm animals

Your article on the use of antibiotics in farm animals [“FDA Sets New Path on Animal Antibiotics,” Jan. 9] fell short of presenting a complete picture of this important subject. I am just one person, and I know of four people who are experiencing the nightmare of having contracted an antibiotic-resistant strain of bacteria. My own son was hospitalized for three weeks with this, landing a medical discharge from the Army.

In order to produce meat on the scale that Americans consume it, producers have to give the animals antibiotics. They have to confine animals in filthy, inhumane conditions that virtually ensure the animal will not make it to slaughter alive.

Advocates of the practice argue that disease would race through livestock if we prohibited the use of antibiotics on industrial farms. Indeed it would. Instead, these advocates would rather it race through the human population.

Jennifer Horsman

Laguna Beach

::

If I can’t get a prescription for tetracycline filled today because of the dire drug shortages, why are we still allowing 80% of our antibiotics, including tetracycline, to be used in farm animals? Crowded factory farm conditions that breed disease, including new forms of viruses like H1N1, are an underlying instigator of this practice. Get rid of factory farms and there will be less reason for concern.

I am glad the FDA is moving toward broader regulation of use of many antibiotic classes in animals.

Lynda Nguyen

San Francisco

Letters should be brief and may be edited for length and clarity. Email health@latimes.com. Please include your full name (no pseudonyms) and city of residence.