• @usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.mlOP
    45•1 month ago

    For global estimates (~73%)

    Previous studies have estimated that 73% of all antimicrobials sold globally are used in animals raised for food

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7766021/pdf/antibiotics-09-00918.pdf

    For US in particular (~80%)

    Of all antibiotics sold in the United States, approximately 80% are sold for use in animal agriculture; about 70% of these are “medically important” (i.e., from classes important to human medicine).2 Antibiotics are administered to animals in feed to marginally improve growth rates and to prevent infections, a practice projected to increase dramatically worldwide over the next 15 years.3 There is growing evidence that antibiotic resistance in humans is promoted by the widespread use of nontherapeutic antibiotics in animals. Resistant bacteria are transmitted to humans through direct contact with animals, by exposure to animal manure, through consumption of undercooked meat, and through contact with uncooked meat or surfaces meat has touched.4

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4638249/

    • @techt@lemmy.world
      5•1 month ago

      I dug in (thanks for linking sources) and there are some promising details. The ~80% figure for the US is from a 2011 report (even though the citation states 2014…), so it’s very old. In 2019, the US began an initiative to increase awareness of this issue and address it, see the progress here (pdf link).

      Not trying to counter the narrative, but at least we’re talking about it on the federal level, so maybe that can provide some optimism to people.

    • @ZorsithEnglish
      5•1 month ago

      We’ll feed them antibiotics by the shovelful but won’t vaccinate chickens…

      • @usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.mlOP
        10•1 month ago

        Don’t worry we’ll do that and still do things like this

        Feedback, is a common practice used in the pork industry where infected deceased pigs and their manure are fed to breeding pigs. It it also called controlled oral exposure or sometimes oral controlled exposure. It is done in an attempt to make the breeding pigs garner some degree of immunity to circulating diseases.[1] There is no standard protocol resulting in some swine researchers calling the procedure potentially risky and noting that it is often done in an unsafe manner.[2][3] The practice has also been criticized by animal welfare and animal rights groups calling it disturbing and or unethical.

        […]

        However, feedback usage extends beyond diseases where vaccines do not yet exist. In 2012, while 45% of large US herds vaccinated young female pigs against PRRS, 26.6% used feedback (or did so in addition).[6]

        […]

        The usage of feedback is not limited to just one country or region. Widespread usage has been recorded in at least the 2010s in places such as the United States,[6] Taiwan,[7] Belgium,[8] Japan,[9] South Korea,[10] Thailand,[11] and more. Additionally, following a PEDv outbreak in the 1970s, feedback was commonly used across Europe.[12]

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feedback_(pork_industry)

        • @ZorsithEnglish
          3•1 month ago

          Oh, what a wonderful thing to read after just buying a large piece of pork.