Meat without Drugs
Consumers Union’s Meat Without Drugs (www.meatwithoutdrugs.org) campaigned
at a conference in front of Trader Joe’s Union Square store in New York City calling on the national specialty grocer to stop selling meat and poultry raised on antibiotics. The campaign, which included more than a dozen consumer, environmental, and animal welfare organizations, delivered a petition to Trader Joe’s signed by nearly 560,000 consumers.
My solution; if those 560,000 signers would find a local producer, who raises animals without antibiotics or hormones, they could boost their local economy. Voting for healthy products with their buying power would send a clear message. So, put your money where your mouth is. If you're opposed to factory farms, antibiotics in animal feed, and the horrific living conditions of confinement animals, than make a conscious effort to support the alternative. After residents voiced their opposition to a hog confinement facility moving into the area the Linn County Board of Supervisors voted against it.
As for Trader Joe's, the retailer has declined meeting with Consumers Union. Representative Harry Waxman intends to introduce legislation in Congress that will help the Food and Drug Administration better understand how the overuse of antibiotics in food animals makes the drugs less effective for people. According to the FDA, an estimated 8o percent of all antibiotics sold in the United states are used in food animals, mostly to make them grow faster and to prevent disease in crowded and unsanitary conditions. Consumers Union is the policy and advocacy arm of Consumer Reports.