Purchase Turkey Raised Without Overusing Antibiotics This Thanksgiving
Guest Blog
Louis Sokolow, Public Health Campaigns Associate, U.S. PIRG Education Fund
It’s worth spending a little more time and maybe a little more money to purchase a turkey raised without overusing antibiotics. Grocery shopping for Thanksgiving can be overwhelming. When it comes to turkey, you’ll need to figure out how big the bird should be, sift through a slew of product labels and brands, and try to stay within your budget.
Here’s why it’s worth spending a little more time and maybe a little more money to purchase a turkey raised without overusing antibiotics.
Antibiotic resistance is a global public health crisis. Whenever antibiotics are used, and especially when they are overused, bacteria adapt and develop resistance. Multi-drug-resistant bacteria, which can cause dangerous and even deadly infections in humans, are becoming more common. As resistant bacteria spread, antibiotics lose effectiveness, which can complicate medical procedures like cancer chemotherapy and surgeries by increasing infection risk. Despite the critical importance of antibiotics to human health, nearly two thirds of the medically important antibiotics sold in the United States go to meat production. These miracle drugs should only be used to treat sick animals, but many industrial farms overuse antibiotics to compensate for an increased risk of disease caused by unsanitary, overcrowded, and stressful living conditions.