Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria and Food Animals (podcast)
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are a growing global health threat, sickening an estimated 2 million people each year in the United States alone. Evidence suggests that antibiotic use in food animals (cattle, poultry, and swine) causes some of this antibiotic resistance. Although federal agencies have taken steps to manage the use of antibiotics in food animals, we found gaps in their oversight. For example, agencies have not been conducting on-farm investigations to get to the source of foodborne illness outbreaks.
John Neuman, a director in our Natural Resources and Environment team, recently discussed what we found about federal oversight of antibiotic use in food animals:
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