Ban on 7 Antibiotics Urged for Livestock

Led by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, 37 health and consumer groups petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ban the use of seven antibiotics in livestock, saying the practice poses a potential threat to human health. The drugs the groups want banned are penicillin, tetracycline, erythromycin, tylosin, lincomycin, virginiamycin and bacitracin. Farmers routinely add antibiotics to livestock feed to help animals grow faster, but some bacteria can eventually outsmart the drugs and become resistant to them. Humans can then contract infections by eating or handling meat contaminated with the bugs.