Hold on!! Aren’t antibiotics necessary to treat animals when they fall ill?
You see, in agriculture, antibiotics have three main functions [11]. First, as mentioned, they are used to treat sick animals. However, this accounts for only 10-15% of antibiotics used in agriculture. Second, about 30% are also used to prevent disease, a term we call ‘prophylaxis’ [11]. The need to do this is more important than many people realize. Let’s say you happen to have a rather stringent boss at work who makes you work on your feet for 18 hours a day, seven days a week, conducting interviews and making presentations with never a moment’s rest, and in a heavily metropolitan setting. That kind of stress is likely to take a toll on your immune system, or your body’s natural ability to fight off diseases, right? Well it’s a similar story with animals on farms. Instead of wearing business suits, running errands and meeting important people, they serve to constantly build up their bodies to produce meat, eggs or milk. Because of this kind of physical stress and crowded living condi
