animal welfare

See the following -

Chipotle Menu Now Practically 100 Percent GMO-Free

Jill Ettinger | Organic Authority | April 28, 2014

After disclosing last year on its website which of the Chipotle menu items contained genetically modified ingredients, the restaurant chain is making good on its promise to go GMO-free. Read More »

FDA Antimicrobial Resistance Guidelines Fail to Address Root Causes

Last December, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published two controversial documents on its website: Guidance 213 and the Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD). The guidelines stirred a firestorm of protests from public health offiicials who argue that the guidelines are too weak to prevent the continuing growth of antibiotic resistant germs...the crisis, as outlined by Dr. Joseph Mercola, is that we are now "facing the perfect storm to take us back to the pre-antibiotic age, when some of the most important advances in modern medicine – intensive care, organ transplants, care for premature babies, surgeries and even treatment for many common bacterial infections – will no longer be possible." Read More »

FDA Finally Imposes Some Controls On Agricultural Antibiotics. Sort Of.

Maryn McKenna | Wired | December 11, 2013

This morning, the US Food and Drug Administration dropped some long-awaited-but-still-big news regarding the use of antibiotics in meat production. Tl;dr: The FDA asked (but did not compel) the livestock industry to stop using the micro-dose “growth promoter” antibiotics that are widely believed to contribute to increase in antibiotic resistant bacteria in animals, food and humans. Read More »

FDA’s New Antibiotics Guidance Falls Short Of Improving Welfare And Reducing Health Risks From Factory Farming

Press Release | American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) | December 19, 2013

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s release of its long-awaited policy is drawing criticism from a group of leading animal welfare organizations, including The ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®), Farm Sanctuary, Animal Welfare Approved, and the Animal Legal Defense Fund. Read More »

FDA’s Step To Limit Animal Antibiotics Symbolic–Animal Husbandry Issues Must Still be Addressed

Ralph Loglisci | Civil Eats | December 13, 2013

In 1977, the [FDA] let everyone know that there was strong evidence that the use of penicillin and tetracycline for anything other than treating disease in livestock, could lead to the development of super bugs strong enough to render the powerful antibiotics useless in people. [...] Now, [the FDA] has finally mustered the courage to approve a strongly worded recommendation for producers to stop using medically important antibiotics as growth promoters and to give veterinarians oversight over therapeutic uses of the life-saving drugs. Read More »

How Industrial Agriculture Has Thwarted Factory Farm Reforms

Christina M. Russo | Yale Environment 360 | November 19, 2013

In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Robert Martin, co-author of a recent study on industrial farm animal production, explains how a powerful and intransigent agriculture lobby has successfully fought off attempts to reduce the harmful environmental and health impacts of mass livestock production. Read More »

Re-Examining The FDA Antibiotics Decision: Banning Growth Promoters Won’t Be Enough

Maryn McKenna | Wired | December 27, 2013

In my first take on the news of the FDA finalizing its request to agriculture to stop using growth-promoter antibiotics, I promised to come back for a more thoughtful reaction. And then this happened, and this happened, and the holidays happened, and, well, it’s been a busy few weeks. Read More »