Tag Archives: Antibacterial

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There’s a reason industry doesn’t love us


Policy and Action from Consumer Reports

Consumer Reports tests your food for serious risks like antibiotic-resistant superbugs on meat, and pushes industry to change. Your donation this week helps us do more of this work, and your tax-deductible gift is matched, increasing your impact!

We’re getting under their skin.

Consumer Reports latest investigation — supermarket ground turkey, and how birds that can be routinely fed antibiotics have more drug-resistant superbugs on their meat — made industry nervous, and made Congress pay attention.

We deluged Congress with more than a quarter-million messages demanding restrictions on antibiotics in food animals. We stood up to industry when they tried to debunk our findings. And we ran a full-page ad in Trader Joe’s hometown newspaper asking the grocer to lead the way and stop selling meat raised on drugs.

Now we need your help to do more! Every $10 you donate this week will be matched with another $5 to help us do more groundbreaking food testing.

Help us reach our goal with your tax-deductible donation. Whatever you can give this week will go further and get results!

As an independent nonprofit, we take no money from industry or government, and have no agenda other than your family’s health. With 80 percent of antibiotics sold in the U.S. used by beef, pork and poultry producers so animals can tolerate filthy, crowded conditions, we’re at real risk of losing the effectiveness of our antibiotics.

Your tax-deductible gift will help to research legitimate dangers like drug-resistant superbugs in your family’s food. It will help us push hard to stop these unnecessary risks to your health.

Now, a generous donor has agreed to help us raise more money for research if we can show consumers like you care!Your support today counts more than ever before.

Give your $10 tax-deductible donation, and we’ll get another $5 to do even more work.

If you can’t donate, we understand. But please forward this to friends and family so they can get involved with this important consumer movement. And thank you again for all your support!

Chris Meyer, Consumers Union
Policy and Action from Consumer Reports

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BREAKING NEWS: Bugs in your food


Policy and Action from Consumer Reports

Consumer Reports finds superbugs in turkeyOur new study found more evidence that raising food animals on antibiotics can impact the effectiveness of our life-saving drugs. If you want antibiotics to work when you need them, tell Congress to stop the mass feeding of drugs to animals.

Take action

Consumer Reports’ latest investigation confirms that all those antibiotics being fed to our food animals do matter.

Released today, our study found meat from conventionally raised turkeys – which can be routinely fed antibiotics –had bacteria resistant to more drugs than birds raised without antibiotics. Since one way superbugs can spread to people is through raw meat, it’s crucial you know these findings.

It’s important to cook turkey thoroughly, and we have tips to help you avoid antibiotic-raised meat. But just avoiding the problem isn’t the solution. Industrial food producers must stop playing this dangerous game with our life-saving drugs – and a bill has been introduced to do just that!

Email Congress to stop mass feeding of antibiotics to food animals, and check out our new investigation and tips.

Eighty percent of antibiotics sold in the U.S. are used by beef, pork and poultry producers so healthy animals can plump up faster and tolerate crowded, unsanitary conditions. This daily use of antibiotics kills off those bacteria vulnerable to drugs, leaving immune ‘superbugs’ to flourish and spread to animals, the environment, and eventually, us.

We’re tackling this problem from every angle. Consumer Reports is testing food for these bacteria, and making sure labels mean what they say so you can shop smart. We’re backing a bill in Congress to end the routine use of antibiotics on food animals. It would preserve our antibiotics by phasing out mass-feeding of drugs to food animals, restricting their use to sick animals.

And we’re on the ground asking Trader Joe’s – one of the nation’s most progressive grocers that has already demonstrated care for customers’ health on other issues – to lead the way and stop selling meat raised on drugs.

Tell Congress to save our antibiotics for when we need them. Get this bill moving.

Ask your friends and family to join you in taking action – this is a problem we can fix if we all demand action.

Sincerely, Jean Halloran, Consumers Union Policy and Action from Consumer Reports

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Consumers Union, Policy and Action from Consumer Reports

400,000 and counting

That’s the number of consumers who’ve asked Trader Joe’s grocery to sell only meat raised without antibiotics. This tidal wave of support shows grocers and factory farmers that you DO want drugs out of food animals so we can better fight off antibiotic-resistant superbugs in our communities.

Chris Meyer, Vice President, External AffairsWe’ll be delivering your petition signatures soon in a high profile way. If you haven’t joined our campaign, there’s still time to get involved.

Chris Meyer, Consumer Reports

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Consumer Reports Did you know you can actually overdose on vitamins? Or that those ‘natural’ supplements may be anything but. Consumer Reports examines the 10 surprising dangers of vitamins and supplements in this month’s issue.  Learn more…

1.2 million messages to lawmakers this year from consumer advocates like you!

YOU showed us the money

Many of you sent in photos of refund checks you got from insurance companies that wasted your money. We put together a quick, fun video featuring you and your money being reunited, thanks to a provision in the health care law that holds insurers accountable to you.

But opponents still want to take away your right to a refund by gutting the law. Our video shows critics that the law works – cash doesn’t lie! Watch it now, Take actionthen forward it to your state Insurance Commissioner.

Get antibiotics off your grill this Labor Day It can be tough shopping for meat raised without antibiotics, thanks to confusing labels and few grocers that carry a variety of no-antibiotic meat. Look for these labels so you know you’re really buying chicken, pork and beef without drugs.

Can’t drive 55? How about 55 miles per gallon? That’s the new standard (54.5 mpg) required of all new cars starting in 2025, thanks to a strong push from those of you demanding better gas mileage. The new rules were just finalized, so check out details here.

Fact Check: Health care law’s ‘cuts’ to Medicare You’ve likely heard politicians claim the Affordable Care Act is taking away Medicare benefits. We turned our fact checker on this claim and found out who is saving money (taxpayers), who is getting less money (health insurance companies), and who is getting more benefits (seniors). Check out the facts here.

Planning on living forever? Sometimes it seems possible with all the new medical implants on the market. But surprisingly these devices are held to lower safety standards than prescription drugs. With your help we fought for new safety rules in Congress. Find out what we won, lost and what’s next.

From the headlines

Bank of America ends nasty practice after our report

Arsenic in juice: More food testing on the way thanks to new grant

Internet sloooow? Check the map to see if you’re left out of broadband coverage

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Trader Joe’s sells meat fed with drugs …Change.org


Trader Joe’s: Stop selling meat fed with drugs!                       
      Sign Melissa’s Petition

 

Trader Joe’s: Stop selling meat fed with drugs!

Started by: Melissa Lee

The night we rushed my 10-month-old daughter Ruby to the hospital is a night I will never forget, especially the terror of not knowing what was making her sick.  It took doctors a very long week to figure out that it was Salmonella, and another two months for us to determine that it came from some ground turkey we ate.

Ruby spent 7 days in the hospital, one of 136 victims of a Salmonella outbreak last summer that led to a massive ground turkey recall.  To make matters worse, that strain of Salmonella was resistant to several kinds of antibiotics, which made it more difficult to treat.

That’s why I’m urging you to sign my petition to Trader Joe’s asking them to sell only meat raised without antibiotics.

Like over 86% of Americans, I want to buy meat raised without antibiotics at my local grocery store. Big supermarket chains can play a critical role in changing the food system.

Trader Joe’s is a progressive grocery store with high standards for the food they sell (and is not where the meat came from that made Ruby sick).   But in my community, many people shop at Trader Joe’s for products that are good for their health and good for the environment. Help me tell my story to Trader Joe’s, and encourage them to sell only meat raised without antibiotics.

I’m grateful every day that the doctors saved Ruby’s life, but we can’t take for granted the antibiotics that allow us to successfully combat serious infections.

80% of the antibiotics sold in the US are going to farm animals–used to make them grow faster and prevent disease in crowded, unsanitary conditions. In such an environment, “superbugs” can develop– and they can get into our food, as Ruby found out.

Whole Foods has already made the commitment to only selling meat raised without antibiotics.  We need more grocery stores to step up to the plate.

Tell Trader Joe’s to be a leader in saving our antibiotics and making food safer.