Protestors to Senator: Stop Livestock Antibiotic Misuse

An area nonprofit concerned with antibiotic misuse in livestock feed gathered supporters for a protest in Doylestown Wednesday. 

Food & Water Watch held the protest at the Bucks County Court House to push for Senator Bob Casey, D-Pa, to co-sponsor the Preventing Antibiotic Resistance Act. 

According to the organization, the bill would prevent medically important antibiotics from being used on healthy farm animals. The legislation was introduced to the Senate in June.

“The routine use of antibiotics on livestock is directly leading to the creation of antibiotic resistant bacteria, which can become a serious human health threat when our medicines stop working to treat them,” according to information from Food & Water Watch.

Casey is a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. 

“Unfortunately, he has yet to take a stand on the issue, so we are asking him to end his silence and publicly support Pennsylvanians’ health,” said Melissa Mann, Field Organizer with Food & Water Watch. 

The organization says it is concerned that factory farms across the country routinely feed livestock low doses of antibiotics in order to compensate for “filthy” living conditions and to “unnaturally promote growth.” 

“The practice creates a breeding ground for antibiotic resistant bacteria, which are responsible for two million human infections annually,” a Food & Water Watch press release said. 

Want to learn more?

Local advocates are hosting a Healthy Farms, Healthy Families Town Hall Forum and Antibiotic-Free Thanksgiving Dinner at 7 p.m. on Nov. 19 at Central Bucks West High School.  

The event, which is free and open to the public, will feature a panel of speakers. Speakers include Dr. Hubert Karreman, a bovine specialist who developed a non-antibiotic treatment for infectious disease, and Jan Cho, founder of Good Enough for Kids.