“Consumers should be very concerned that antibiotic-resistant bacteria are now common in the meat aisles of most American supermarkets.” -Environmental Working Group nutritionist Dawn Undurraga.The livestock industry is globally feeding 63,000 tons of antibiotics to chickens, pigs, and cattle each year. That accounts for 80% of the total antibiotics used in the United States. It does this to decrease infection rates in animals who are intensely bunched together in factory farms and to fatten animals up, increasing the profit margin.Colistin was the last known drug to resist a particularly potent type of bacteria called gram negative bacteria. It was therefore classed as a drug of global importance for human health; however this didn’t stop China using the drug heavily in the livestock industry. Last month it was confirmed that gram negative bacteria have developed a resistance gene to Colistin. Now, because the resistant gene can spread readily between bacteria, it is set to spread around the world.

In fact, the gene has already been found in human patients in China and Denmark, prompting a worldwide search. Historically, antibiotic resistant bacteria have caused tens of thousands of deaths in the U.S. and Europe and this number will now only increase.

It’s still possible to manufacture new antibiotics; but we need to make sure their effectiveness isn’t thrown away unnecessarily. Reduce the demand for meat and dairy products by eliminating them from your diet.

Download our free electronic vegan starter kit here.

To read more about the recent discovery of the e-coli super strain discovered in factory farmed pigs which was able to resist all known antibiotic drugs, click here.