Crops absorb livestock antibiotics, science shows

Consumers have long been exposed to antibiotics in meat and milk. Now, new research shows that they also may be ingesting them from vegetables, even ones grown on organic farms.

“Around 90 percent of these drugs that are administered to animals end up being excreted either as urine or manure,” said Holly Dolliver, a member of the Minnesota research team and now a professor of crop and soil sciences at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. “A vast majority of that manure is then used as an important input for 9.2 million hectares of (U.S.) agricultural land.”

Manure, widely used as a substitute for chemical ... Full Story »

Posted by Dwight Rousu
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Posted by: Posted by Dwight Rousu - Jan 6, 2009 - 8:39 PM PST
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3.7
by Patricia Blochowiak - Jan. 9, 2009

While this story is definitely very important, it contains enough inaccurate and/or misleading statements that it should be interpreted with great caution. The title, for example, suggests that vegetables may be as significant a source of antibiotic-related problems as the antibiotics fed to livestock, even though 70% of antibiotics in the US are given to livestock, and even though we there is evidence that some of those antibiotics break down during composting, and even though we ... More »

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4.8
by Dwight Rousu - Jan. 6, 2009

The article gives a thorough presentation of a new confirmed pathway of antibiotics into the food chain and a correlary risk of spawning antibiotic resistant bacteria.

health implications for people consuming such small, cumulative doses are largely unknown. More »

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3.7
by Derek Hawkins - Jan. 8, 2009
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3.8
by Juliet Sallette - Jan. 8, 2009
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4.0
by Kaizar Campwala - Jan. 8, 2009
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4.5
by Naomi Isler - Jan. 8, 2009

The article highlights something most of us aren't aware of - the extent to which antibiotics routinely fed to animals we eat penetrate the rest of the food supply, with consequences for public health. It also offers some possible mitigations where animal manure is used as fertilizer.

I guess it never ends, does it. One more instance of how agribusiness, advertently or not, will mess us all up. Agriculture may be less ... More »

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