When Farmers Default to Drugs

“Don’t wait for Pig Zero,” touted the drugmaker Elanco, encouraging farmers to liberally distribute antibiotics to herds as a preventive measure that also fattens up livestock.
 
It’s the opposite of the message health officials want to send. The FDA prohibits the fattening-up of livestock with drugs considered medically important to humans. But it’s a tough habit to shake in industrial farming, and scientists say the FDA law is full of loopholes that benefit the industrial farming industry.
 
 “It’s useless,” said the late US Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY), who was the only microbiologist in Congress. “That’s why the industry’s supporting it.”
 
The New York Times