Fw: NPR Special Report: How Safe is the Food Supply? Kicking the Habit of Antibiotics on the Farm

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From: " ilena rose " <ilena@...>

Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2001 11:14 AM

Subject: NPR Special Report: How Safe is the Food Supply? Kicking the Habit

of Antibiotics on the Farm

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NPR Special Report: How Safe is the Food Supply?

Kicking the Habit of Antibiotics on the Farm

Listen to part one of the All Things Considered report on

antibiotic use on American farms

Aug. 15, 2001 -- America has a drug problem. It's not street drugs or

prescription painkillers -- it's antibiotics.

A small but significant number of people are getting sick and finding the

usual antibiotics don't work, because the strain of bacteria that's making

them sick has become resistant to the drug. And some studies suggest the

biggest factor in creating this resistance is American farming, where the

nation's pigs, chickens and cattle consume antibiotics far more often than

most humans.

Creating a Super-Bug

Certain antibiotics, once considered miracle cures, may no longer be

effective because strains of bacteria have become resistant.

That's because within every strain of bacteria, a small portion of the

population have small but crucial genetic resistance to an antibiotic. And

if, for example, a sick person takes antibiotics but fails to finish the

whole course of the drug, some of that resistant bacteria can survive.

The surviving bacteria stays in the environment, carrying on the genetic

resistance, and the process can eventually lead to a strain of the original

bacteria that is totally immune to the antibiotic's assault.

On All Things Considered, in the first of two reports on the use of

antibiotics on farms, NPR's Zwerdling visits with Tennessee family

that confronted a drug-resistant strain of bacteria.

Mike Culbreath runs a horse farm near Nashville. When he got sick, his

doctor prescribed an antibiotic called Cipro® -- but instead of recovering,

Culbreath's condition grew worse. His doctor says he was close to death.

It turns out that Culbreath was infected with a common germ called

campylobacter, which victims usually contract by eating infected chicken.

But this particular strain of campylobacter was anything but the common

germ people usually encounter. It had become resistant to Cipro®.

And government researchers say that the emergence of a resistant strain of

the bacteria was only a matter of time, because Cipro® is often used to

treat farm animals. Then if resistant strains of bacteria appear in farm

animals, they can be spread to humans through infected meat.

Mike Culbreath on his Tennessee farm

Photo: , NPR

In part two of his report on All Things Considered Aug. 16, Zwerdling

visits a country where farmers are learning to kick the drug habit:

Denmark, a nation smaller than West Virginia.

Danish livestock consume two-thirds less antibiotics than they used to, and

in the case of chickens, most meat for sale is antibiotic-free. While U.S.

farmers, pharmaceutical companies and the government are locked in a battle

over this issue, the decision to reduce antibiotic use in Denmark came

about through an unprecedented agreement between farmers, food industry

executives and the Danish government.

Zwerdling's coverage is part of a special report " Who Bought the Farm? "

from American RadioWorks, the documentary project of Minnesota Public Radio

and NPR News.

In " Who Bought the Farm? " reports to air next month, Zwerdling and ARW

economics correspondent Farrell will explore what America's

increasingly streamlined food production means for the family farm and the

health of consumers.

Web Resources:

Antibiotic resistance site from the Centers for Disease Control

Food-borne bacteria information from the CDC

The case against using Cipro® in animal feed from the U.S. Food and Drug

Administration

Cipro® information for human use from Bayer, the drug's maker

FEFANA, the European Federation of the Animal Feed Additive Manufacturers,

touts the benefits of using antibiotics as " digestive enhancers " in

livestock foo