St Paul Citizens to City Council: "Protect public health, support bans on antibiotics overuse"

St Paul, MN- Today at City Hall, concerned community members came together to encourage local action on a critical public health issue. Concerned residents and community leaders gathered to call on the City Council to pass a local resolution in support of a federal ban on the misuse of antibiotics on factory farms.

"Antibiotics are one of those things you only appreciate when you no longer have them,” said speaker David Wallinga, co-founder and director of local advocacy group Healthy Food Action. “We're dangerously close to losing our antibiotics- so says every major public health entity. Our overuse of antibiotics is the culprit.“

The routine daily use of antibiotics on livestock, whether or not they are sick, is directly linked to the creation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which have become a serious human health threat. Federal legislation, the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA) in the House and the Prevention of Antibiotic Resistance Act (PARA) in the Senate, would prevent medically important antibiotics from being used needlessly on healthy farm animals. Food & Water Watch and local residents are calling on City Council to pass a resolution asking Senator Franken to support PARA, and bring it out of committee.

Antibiotic resistant infections hits the elderly, pregnant women, and children the hardest, and Twin Cities mom Amanda Hedin has personally experienced how important antibiotics are in the lives of her own children. “The miracle lifesaving antibiotics are critical in the lives of premature babies,” she says. “These antibiotics need to be protected for future babies as well.”

Currently, factory farms across the country routinely feed livestock low doses of antibiotics to compensate for filthy living conditions and unnaturally promote growth. The practice creates a breeding ground for antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which are responsible for two million human infections and 23,000 deaths annually, according to a study released by the Center for Disease Control in September 2013. PARA would decrease the livestock’s unnecessary exposure to antibiotics, and help to preserve our medicine’s live-saving properties. 

“I believe that our government has a duty to protect its citizens, especially when it comes to public health. The allowance of unregulated non-therapeutic antibiotic usage in our food system is an utter failure to uphold that duty, and it’s time our legislators start being accountable to their constituents, said Sarah Nichols, a sophomore at Macalester college who grew up on a Missouri farm, raising organic grass-fed chickens.

“We have an opportunity right here in St Paul to take the lead on this critical issue and be a catalyst for change across the country,” said Food & Water Watch Field Organizer, Emily Palmer. “We can’t afford to let Big Ag wipe out lifesaving antibiotics for the rest of us and that is why we’re asking City Council to take the first step towards protecting public health by passing this resolution.”

This local movement is gaining momentum, with local businesses, health professionals, and community organizations in support. The resolution, if passed, could be one of the first in a string of resolutions Food & Water Watch is working to pass across the country. For more information, visit www.foodandwaterwatch.org

Food & Water Watch works to ensure the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainable. So we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of where their food comes from, keep clean, affordable, public tap water flowing freely to our homes, protect the environmental quality of oceans, force government to do its job protecting citizens, and educate about the importance of keeping shared resources under public control. www.foodandwaterwatch.org

Healthy Food Action makes it simple for health professionals to act by providing both vital information, and a mechanism for action. By speaking out, health professionals can lend their unique, collective voice to public policy debates about food and farming - a voice to ensure that these policies are consistent with better health. www.healthyfoodaction.org