NRDC petition: livestock antibiotics creating superbugs, altering watersheds

One hundred percent of respondents in a recent interested party poll believe that livestock producers suspected of polluting watersheds should be surveilled by federal aircraft.

It's long past time for the Food and Drug Administration to work in concert with the Environmental Protection Agency to end the environmental degradation caused by the capitalistic exploitation of pharmaceuticals according to the Natural Resources Defense Council:

Eighty percent of all antibiotics sold in the United States are for use in livestock -- the vast majority for use in animals that do not have bacterial infections -- to promote faster weight gain and to compensate for crowded and unsanitary conditions. It's like taking antibiotics to avoid getting sick instead of washing your hands. It's up to the Food and Drug Administration to protect the public's health from the dangerous, widespread misuse of antibiotics in livestock. But so far, the agency has done little beyond releasing voluntary guidelines -- mere suggestions that pharmaceutical companies and food producers can choose to follow or ignore entirely. We need to collect public comments by July 10th, so there's no time to lose.

Sign petition to Dr. William T. Flynn, Deputy Director for Science Policy, Food and Drug Administration here.