Most important to note: Most of the drugs used in animal
agriculture and in human medicine are functionally identical.
That’s one reason why the overuse of antibiotics in animals is
such a concern: When organisms become resistant on the farm to
drugs used on livestock, they are becoming resistant to the
exact same drugs used in humans. (One major drug category used
in animals, ionophores, do not have a direct human
analog...)Additional data and discussion at the links. The next
battle, which industry has already begun, is defining what non-
therapeutic use will constitute. Producers are already claiming
that the use of antibiotics for growth promotion has decreased,
maintaining current low-dose usage is aimed at disease
prevention. Regardless, all low-dose usage of antibiotics can
lead to a significant increase in antibiotic resistance. 28
December 2010 80% of U.S. antibiotics are used in animals From a
report at Wired, citing the Center for a Livable Future, which
used data from the FDA: