I wanted to share this with you- Verna

Did you know that 80 percent of the antibiotics sold in the United States are not consumed by humans? Instead, they are given to animals on factory farms, and a vast majority of that percentage is used only to fatten animals up before slaughter, not to combat disease. The overuse of antibiotics on factory farms is contributing to one of the largest threats to human health: antibiotic-resistant superbugs. But Congress is taking steps to change this, and they need to hear from you. Please take a moment to contact your senators and urge them to co-sponsor the bipartisan Preventing Antibiotic Resistance Act of 2013 (S. 1256), which will protect human health by limiting the use of antibiotics for livestock. Livestock producers routinely administer antibiotics in feed and water to speed growth and maximize their profits. This reckless, profit-driven practice generates antibiotic-resistant bacteria which are largely untreatable and very dangerous to humans. The Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences estimates that the annual cost of treating antibiotic-resistant infections in the United States is $30 billion. These costs are a direct result of the livestock industry’s abuse of the very same antibiotics used to treat human illness. We are currently facing an epidemic of antibiotic-resistant infections. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2 million Americans contract antibiotic-resistant infections annually and, of those, 90,000 die. MRSA, one particularly deadly superbug often found in factory-farmed animals and in workers, now kills more people every year than AIDS. The Preventing Antibiotic Resistance Act of 2013 will ensure that antibiotics are used only to treat clinically diagnosable illnesses in humans and animals, not to boost corporate profits at the expense of public health. Your senators are poised to safeguard the effectiveness of these lifesaving drugs, but they need to hear that their constituents care about this issue. Please call or e-mail their offices today, and urge them to co-sponsor the Preventing Antibiotic Resistance Act of 2013. After contacting your senators, forward this message to your friends. Thank you for your help. If you have any questions, contact me at ngittell@pcrm.org.  Very truly, Noah Gittell Director of Government Affairs, PCRM