Supermoms Against Superbugs, an initiative of the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming, is a movement of moms, dads, grandparents, and other caregivers who want to end the overuse of antibiotics in food animal production.
In 2011, more antibiotics were sold for use in meat and poultry production than ever before. This dangerous practice helps breed deadly antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can spread to humans. And children, the elderly, and those with weakened immune systems are especially at risk.
Take this opportunity to join other supermoms in combatting this very serious issue.
On April 16, 2013, Pew hosted the second annual Supermoms Against Superbugs Advocacy Day. Concerned moms, dads and other caregivers came to the nation’s capital to lobby the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Congress and the White House to rein in the overuse of antibiotics in meat and poultry production – a practice that breeds dangerous superbugs that can infect humans.
This event built off the successful 2012 advocacy day where 25 concerned parents spoke out on the need to stop misusing antibiotics on industrial farms to ensure that they work when we need them most. The 2012 Supermoms were chefs, pediatricians, farmers, and every day moms and dads who had a particular interest in this issue. In just eight hours, we went to 50 meetings with policymakers.
Learn more about the 2012 event in our video shorts:
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In November 2011, the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) announced it had begun serving local chicken raised without antibiotics to students in 473 schools. The district's new program includes about 1.2 million pounds from Amish farms that do not use antibiotics, for a total of about two million pounds of fresh chicken in the 2011-12 school year. CPS’ enormous purchase of chicken grown without antibiotics, made through food service provider Chartwells-Thompson Hospitality, is the first of its kind. No other district in the nation is serving this kind of poultry regularly at such a scale.
Since September 2010, Chartwells and CPS have been engaged in an investigation of the use of antibiotics in poultry production, through their participation in the School Food FOCUS (Food Options for Children in the United States) Learning Lab. Chartwells made the decision to buy chicken raised without antibiotics for Chicago schools with research and consulting support from the Learning Lab and the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming (HHIF). Negotiations with the producer, Miller Amish Country Poultry of Orland, Indiana, were facilitated with help from Whole Foods. Read the full press release on the announcement.
To help other districts follow Chicago’s lead, the School Food FOCUS Learning Lab and Pew developed purchasing guidelines for institutions and a Request for Proposals template (PDF) that any school district can adapt for its own use.
If you are interested in doing the same in your school district, call your principal, your school board representatives, and your school superintendent, and tell them that you want what Chicago's students have: meat raised without the routine use of antibiotics. Click here to download a letter that you can send school officials, outlining what steps they can take to protect our children's health.
Why are you concerned about the misuse of antibiotics in food animal production? Why are antibiotics important to you and your family? Let us know, and we could feature you on our website and/or on our Facebook and Twitter pages!
This bibliography lists the latest published scientific and economic literature concerning the contribution of routine antibiotic use in food animals to the growing public health crisis of human antibiotic resistance. Research on how antibiotic use in food animal production contributes to the growing health crisis of antibiotic resistance dates back more than 30 years.
More infoPew Charitable Trusts today applauded Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Susan Collins (R-ME), for introducing the Antimicrobial Data Collection Act, which would require the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, to report more information on the annual sales of antibiotics used among industrial farm animals. The bipartisan bill would also give the agency a deadline to finalize policies proposed last year to eliminate the use of antibiotics for growth promotion purposes in meat production.
More info"As a nation, we need to exercise greater care with our use of antibiotics, in both humans and animals, so that these medications remain effective in treating serious bacterial infections."
More infoSuperChefs Against Superbugs, an initiative of the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming, is a movement of chefs who want to stop the overuse of antibiotics in food animal production. On April 23, the following seven chefs visited Capitol Hill to explain why they serve meat and poultry raised without antibiotics.
More infoIt used to be easy to treat healthy children with common bacterial infections; a regimen of antibiotic pills could usually wipe out the disease. Today, patients might need to go home on intravenous antibiotics because oral therapies will no longer work. Antibiotic resistance is to blame.
More infoA past bout of salmonella led Maine resident Danielle Wadsworth to travel to Washington, D.C. this week to argue for stronger regulations to curtail the use of antibiotics in livestock farming. She took part Wednesday in "Supermoms Against Superbugs," an initiative of the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming.
More infoDr. Cecilia Di Pentima is in Washington, D.C., for “Supermoms against Superbugs” to push for laws to curtail the use of antibiotics in livestock farming — one of many fronts in the battle to preserve the effectiveness of the medicines. Family physicians in the South, including Tennessee, have also been identified as inadvertent purveyors of drug-resistant bacteria by prescribing too many antibiotics.
More infoEach year, tens of thousands of Americans die and hundreds of thousands are hospitalized because of bacterial infections resistant to antibiotics. Antibiotic overuse on industrial farms is a big part of the problem. The largest U.S. meat and poultry producers feed antibiotics to healthy animals over much of their lives to make them grow faster and to compensate for the overcrowded and unsanitary conditions in which they are bred and slaughtered.
More infoOn behalf of the undersigned organizations representing medical, public health, scientific, agricultural, environmental, animal protection, and other organizations, we urge you to include H.R. 820, the Delivering Antimicrobial Transparency in Animals (DATA) Act, as part of the final Animal Drug User Fee Act (ADUFA). This legislation provides a reasonable, common-sense approach to better understanding antibiotic use in agriculture.
More infoWe have an amazing roster of more than fifty moms, dads, and other caregivers ready to take Washington by storm. Hailing from 25 states, each supermom and superdad has a unique story to tell about why we need to stop overusing antibiotics on industrial farms, including moms who almost lost children to antibiotic-resistant infections and pediatricians who fight superbugs every day.
More info"For decades, the meat industry has denied any problem with its reliance on routine, everyday antibiotic use for the nation's chickens, cows, and pigs. But it's a bit like a drunk denying an alcohol problem while leaning on a barstool for support. Antibiotic use on livestock farms has surged in recent years — from 20 million pounds annually in 2003 to nearly 30 million pounds in 2011."
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