The World

Antibiotic Use on the Farm

Bacteria are increasingly evolving resistance to the many antibiotics that they’re exposed to, and the drugs are working less and less well. Some say giving drugs in small doses to farm animals that aren’t sick is partly to blame.

Eighty percent of antibiotics used in the U.S. are used on livestock to help prevent disease and make them grow large quickly. But some say this low dose, non-medical use of antibiotics in agriculture is causing bacteria to evolve to become resistant and putting human health at risk. As Living on Earth’s Jessica Ilyse Kurn reports, it’s now up to the courts to decide whether to limit the non-therapeutic use of drugs on animals.