12/16/2013 09:00 AM EST
Will antibacterial soaps, in addition to keeping you clean, reduce your risk of getting sick or passing on germs to others? Data suggest that the risks associated with long-term, daily use may outweigh the benefits.
Tag Archives: Antibacterial
It was just chicken salad…
| It won’t be easy. But we can do this.Our antibiotics must work when your family needs them. And that means taking on some of the biggest power players in the marketplace. Your tax-deductible, year-end donation will help us take the fight to them.
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At 15, Sam was on the top of the world. He pitched varsity baseball as a freshman, sprouted three inches in the off-season. Pro scouts even came calling.
Then he ate a chicken caesar salad that changed his life.
Within three days Sam was headed to the emergency room doubled over in a diaper. Sickened with antibiotic-resistant bacteria common to chicken, he was bleeding and wasting away. Drug after drug was tried. Each failed. His parents were frantic. A month later when his infection was finally under control, Sam lost 30 pounds and couldn’t jog without wheezing. His pitching career was over.
This is our reality – a strapping Midwestern teen taken down by a ‘superbug’ in his chicken salad. The rapid rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria is so serious, the CDC warns that unless we act soon, it may be too late. Which is why we need your help now to get the attention of those who can fix this.
We’re up against some of the biggest power players in the marketplace – the giant industrial meat producers. They already use 80 percent of antibiotics sold, and want to keep feeding them to food animals so they’ll grow bigger and survive cramped, filthy conditions. Last week’s FDA move to voluntarily re-label animal antibiotics is expected to have only a small impact on overall use.
This overuse is spawning drug-resistant bacteria that make their way into our food and the environment. At least 23,000 Americans die each year. So we’re unleashing consumer power to stop this unnecessary use.
We’re pressuring Congress and health officials to take emergency action to stop antibiotic overuse in food production. We’re pushing a leading national grocery chain – Trader Joe’s – to lead the marketplace and stop selling antibiotic-raised meat. We’re testing supermarket meat at Consumer Reports labs to discover how widespread a problem it is.
Drug-resistant bacteria robbed Sam of his baseball career, but through great effort he recovered and went on to play college football. Yet no child should have to go through this. You’ve stood with us throughout this important fight, and we need your help to see it through. For kids like Sam. For kids like yours and mine.
Sincerely, Chris Meyer, Consumers Union Policy and Action from Consumer Reports
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150 million wieners!
Hot dogs, apple pie and antibiotics.This Fourth of July, declare your independence! Sign our pledge, and join tens of thousands of consumers not buying meat from animals routinely fed antibiotics. |
Did you pledge yet?
July 4th is just two days away, and you can still join tens of thousands of Americans pledging their independence this holiday from meat raised on drugs.
Why is this pledge so important? The Fourth of July holiday is one of the biggest weekends for meat sales (yes, 150 million wieners), and your pledge shows industry that consumers don’t want products from animals routinely fed antibiotics.
Take the pledge now, and declare your independence from antibiotics this Fourth of July!
You know enough not to take antibiotics everyday just to keep from getting sick, since it weakens their effectiveness for when you really need them. But most conventional beef, poultry and pork sold in our grocery stores come from animals routinely fed antibiotics to promote their growth or so they can survive in filthy feedlots, rather than just giving them medicine when they are sick.
All this overuse on livestock is contributing to the spread of antibiotic-resistant ‘superbugs’ in both animals and people. Unless we stop this practice, there may be a day when our antibiotics no longer work.
Congress has a bill before that would prevent routine dosing, reserving the drugs for when animals are sick. But ultimately, consumers like you can change the tide by not buying these products. And what better day to declare our independence than the Fourth of July?
Pledge this July 4th, and be part of the movement to save our antibiotics!
Thank you for pledging with us this Independence Day. And have a great holiday weekend.
Meg Bohne, Consumers Union Policy and Action from Consumer Reports
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This is crazy, Washington!
| Here’s TJ’s number, call them maybe?
Their customers are calling, but Trader Joe’s still refuses to meet with us to discuss ending the sale of meat raised on antibiotics. The grocer says it listens to its customers, so we’re ramping up more calls. Can you call them, maybe?
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To save our antibiotics, we can’t just wait for Congress to act. We have to go directly to grocery chains selling antibiotic-raised meat and get them to stop.
So we targeted Trader Joe’s, one of the nation’s most progressive grocers, to lead the way in the fight to save our antibiotics.
But after presenting a half-million of your signatures, sending thousands of emails, postcards and fliers – and running full-page ads in the hometown newspapers where they’re headquartered – Trader Joe’s management still refuses to sit down and talk with us about stopping the sale of this meat.
This is crazy! Now we need a little help from you to convince them.
Trader Joe’s prides itself on listening to its customers. Since the company is headquartered in California, we recently put ads in the Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle asking customers to call company execs and ask them to end the sale of antibiotic-raised beef, poultry and pork. The execs got a LOT of calls!
What did Trader Joe’s do? They dug in even deeper, telling callers they will keep selling meat raised on antibiotics. Pretty unbelievable for a company that claims to listen to its customers. The Pacific-Northwest is a major market for Trader Joes. Your call may be the tipping point.
We’re tackling the overuse of antibiotics in our food animals on every front – including testing meat for drug-resistant superbugs, lobbying in Congress, and pushing industry and the marketplace to stop this risky practice. Join us in making a safer future for your family by making a call now.
Sincerely, Jean Halloran, NotInMyFood.org, a project of Consumers Union Policy and Action from Consumer Reports
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