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Chicago public schools to serve antibiotic-free chickens
The third-largest school district in the country on Tuesday began serving chickens raised without antibiotics, a major win for public health advocates who have been warning about the rising threat of antibiotic resistance.
Chicago Public Schools announced that it will be serving 1.2 million pounds of antibiotic-free chicken from Amish farms — about a quarter of the total it serves every year — to more than 300,000 school children. The Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming, which was involved in the deal, said getting the school district on board was part of a two-pronged strategy to reduce antibiotic use in animal agriculture.
"We're trying to drive change at the Food and Drug Administration," said Laura Rogers, the campaign's director. "But we're also trying to drive changes in the marketplace through the power of consumer choice."
Public health researchers have estimated that about 70 percent of antibiotics produced annually in the United States are used on healthy animals to help them grow or increase their resistance to disease. The agriculture and drug industries say keeping animals healthy benefits the public, but others are worried that overuse of antibiotics risks creating drug-resistance bacteria.
"The safety mechanisms put in place by federal government agencies have been successful in allowing veterinarians and farmers to use antibiotics to keep animals healthy while protecting public health," says the Animal Health Institute. "Studies indicate that the presence of foodborne bacteria increases when the use of antibiotics that help suppress animal diseases decreases."
Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) has for several years been leading efforts in Congress to ban the use of seven classes of antibiotics critical for human health on healthy animals. Four senators — Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) — introduced companion legislation in June.
