*SAMPLE TEXT TO YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS*
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Dear [Member of Congress],
The Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA) introduced in the House of Representatives and the Preventing Antibiotic Resistance Act (PARA), the Senate version, would each limit the use of antibiotics in factory farms.
In the United States, more than 2.8 million antimicrobial resistant infections occur each year, causing 35,000 deaths. Globally, the annual death toll due to antimicrobial resistance is 1.27 million.
Antibiotic resistance is primarily attributed to the over-prescription of antibiotics, but the other main drivers are human drugs given to livestock raised on factory farms and antibiotic pesticides like glyphosate.
In 2017, the Food & Drug Administration banned the use of antibiotics for growth-promotion, but continued to allow farms to use antibiotics routinely to prevent disease. Both uses of antibiotics result in the same consequences. Farms still report using antibiotics for growth promotion even though the practice is illegal.
Nearly two-thirds of antibiotics sold in the U.S. are administered to conventionally raised cows, pigs, and chickens to prophylactically treat disease.
Scientific evidence has also established a link between common herbicides and antibiotic resistant bacteria.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that the the Environmental Protection Agency approved use of medically important antibiotics as pesticides can facilitate antibiotic resistant bacteria. This presence of this bacteria results in an increased risk of staph infections and MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus).
There are more than 475 antibiotics and antifungals sprayed on fruits, vegetables, and grains.
Please work to ban the use of medically important drugs as pesticides, in addition to stopping their routine use in livestock.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]