Erroneous Prescription: Using Antibiotics to Make Meat
Daniel Gordillo Rodríguez
DeVry University

Erroneous Prescription: Using Antibiotics to Make Meat Have you ever wondered where does the meat you purchase in your local supermarket is produced? If a package is not marked organic or free range, you can assume that the meat comes from a factory farm or Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO). A CAFO functions as an industrial plant and its only purpose is to produce meat products as rapidly and as lucratively as they possibly can. A CAFO is an agricultural operation that congregates animals, feed, manure, urine, dead animals, and production operations on a small land area. The production methods used in these operations is the cause for measurable damages across a wide range of environmental, biological, and economic factors. (Institute of Science, Technology, and Public Policy, 2008)
One of these factors is a public health one. The extensive use of antibiotics in livestock CAFO’s, especially for non-therapeutic uses such as growth promotion contributes to the development of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms that are more difficult to treat and are causing food-borne diseases in humans. It is important to identify and reduce the unnecessary use of antibiotics on these animals in order to prevent the creation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Some of the Difficulties
For decades, antibiotics such as Tylosin and Monensin have been used for the treatment of diseases in animals and humans. The United States Food and Drug Administration approved in the 1950’s their use in animal feed as long as they are given “in low doses to help animals grow faster, produce more meat, and avoid illness.” (Food Market Institute, n.d., p. 1) According to Tam & Willson, (2011) “antibiotics are also routinely placed in livestock feed and water to increase