Feeding Livestock Antibiotics | featured news

Environmental and health groups had sued to limit the widespread use of penicillin and tetracycline to promote animal growth, which is thought to pose risks to human health.

The Food and Drug Administration says it will limit the presence of one type of antibiotics in meat, saying they could increase human resistance to the drugs. The agency said Wednesday it will restrict the use of cephalosporin antibiotics, which are often given to cattle, swine, chickens and turkeys before slaughter. The drugs are used to treat pneumonia, skin infections and other diseases in humans.

The mystery started the day farmer Russ Kremer got between a jealous boar and a sow in heat. The boar gored Kremer in the knee with a razor-sharp tusk. The burly pig farmer shrugged it off, figuring: "You pour the blood out of your boot and go on."