(PCM) Did you know that nearly 80 percent of all antibiotics used in the U.S. are ingested by nonorganic farm animals? Animals raised in North Carolina alone are fed more antibiotics than the entire American public!
Commercial farmers inject the animal feed full of the stuff to speed up livestock growth and counteract the unsanitary confinement conditions the animals are living in. So what does this mean for us? With the average person eating between 150-200 pounds of meat each year, it means a lot. According to Rodale, the constant, daily contact with drugs helps bacteria learn how to outsmart and become resistant to the medicine. In other words: It lowers the effectiveness of the drug, creating dangerous strains of antibiotic resistant superbugs.
In January, researchers found 230 out of 395 raw pork cuts bought in U.S. stores were contaminated with MRSA, the dangerous staph bacterium that kills more Americans every year than AIDS. In fact, an estimated 60,000 Americans die from antibiotic resistant disease each year, according to the CDC.
Meatless Monday is starting to sound more and more appealing, isn’t it?! Cut down on your non-organic meat, egg, and dairy consumption! Swap meat for beans, tofu, or fish at least 2 or 3 times a week. Or, start buying organic meats; the organic seal can assure you that animals were raised without the use of antibiotics or growth hormones. It may be more expensive, but you and your family are worth it!
More:
How Slow Cookers, Meatless Mondays and Other Food Choices Help Save Our Planet
photo courtesy LA Times
