Urge U.S. Turkey Producers to End Unsafe Practice
Turkeys and other food animals are regularly given antibiotics in their feed to promote faster growth and to prevent diseases caused by overcrowded conditions in animal factory farms.
This practice has serious consequences for our health because it causes bacteria to develop resistance to these drugs. When a person gets sick from resistant bacteria, their prescribed antibiotics will not work.
This holiday season, we encourage you to buy turkeys labeled "organic" or "raised without antibiotics" and to sign this petition telling the nation's big turkey producers - including Butterball and Jennie-O - to protect our health and stop putting these drugs in animal feed.
Dear Decision Maker,
I urge you to end the dangerous practice of adding antibiotics to the feed and water of turkeys that are not sick for purposes including growth promotion and disease prevention.
This practice has grave consequences for human health. Overuse of antibiotics can make these drugs less effective in treating the thousands of people who fall ill due to bacterial infections every year, and new antibiotics are not being developed fast enough to keep up.
Other poultry companies have demonstrated that drastic cutbacks in antibiotic use are possible through improvements in animal living conditions--including providing more room per animal, increasing ventilation, and conducting more frequent cleanings of animal quarters.
We urge you to protect our health and the health of our families by ending the use of antibiotics in turkeys that are not sick.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Address]
