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Big Chicken likes to stress the fact that they do not put steroids or hormones in the feed they give to their poultry. Okay. Now ask them about antibiotics. |
Year in which the World Health Organization called for a ban on using antibiotics to promote livestock growth: 1997
Year in which the European Union banned the addition of human-use antibiotics to animal feed: 1998
Estimated number of pounds of antibiotics that are produced in the U.S. annually: 50 million
Percentage of total antibiotic production administered to animals: 40
Percentage of that number administered to animals for non-therapeutic reasons; i.e., for promoting growth: 80
Estimated number of salmonella cases in the United States annually: 1.4 million
Number of salmonella-related deaths annually in the U.S.: 600
Percentage increase in isolates of the multidrug-resistant salmonella strain, DT104, between 1980 and 1996: 33
Ratio of antibiotics administered to humans annually as compared to hogs: 3:10
Percentage of antibiotics fed to farm animals which may pass through the animal, undigested, into the waste: 75
Estimated annual increase in food costs for the average American if a ban on the use of non-therapeutic were enacted: $4.85 to $9.72
Ratio of organic water pollution created by wastes from animal agriculture to that created by all other industrial sources combined: 3:1
Miles of U.S. rivers polluted by hog, chicken and cattle waste: 35,000
Sources:
1,2: Sierra Club CAFO Fact Sheet.
3,4,5: American Medical News, 1999.
6-10: Union of Concerned Scientists.
11. National Academy of Sciences.
12. Harper’s Index.
13. EPA.
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