Target: Charles Michel, President of the European Council
Goal: Enact safeguards against agricultural and pet food products that possibly harbor antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Over half a million people die every year globally from bacteria resistant to antibiotics. A troubling study out of Europe finds that these lethal microbes may be festering unchecked in an unlikely but common source: raw dog food. If these findings are true, this popular type of food could endanger both pets and humans.
The findings of the research in question were first unveiled at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases. Researchers discovered strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria often found in patients who have been hospitalized. Israeli officials, where the sale of raw pet food products is banned, explained the proliferation of these potential super-bugs: “when assessing the risks involved in producing raw food for animals, it was found that such food endangers the public health and animals because it does not undergo full thermal treatment.”
The bacteria themselves often develop because humans irresponsibly over-use antibiotics. Farmers who routinely put the medications in their livestock’s feed therefore also play a role in this dangerous spread. The pasteurization process does little to protect against these dangers in meat. In a separate study assessing individuals who fed raw food to their pets, over half of the pets presented with bacterial infections; traces of the bacteria were even found in some of the humans.
Sign the petition below to demand the European Union follow Israel’s lead in protecting against a serious threat that can endanger both human and animal health.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Mr. Michel,
An analysis presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases contained some alarming warnings about raw food products and antibiotic-infused food popular with pet caretakers and farmers, respectively. The study found that several prominent brands of pet food that included raw beef, salmon, goose, and other meat components contained troubling levels of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Some even showed resistance to linezolid: a last-resort drug for the most serious infections. More troubling still, these bacteria can pass on their resistance to other strains.
Such dangers are also prevalent in the food chain, as over-use of antibiotics in farm feed remains a recurring issue in agriculture. These threats endanger all living beings and create the risk of an invincible super-bug that curtails all efforts to stop its spread. Such bugs already take the lives of 700,000 people and untold animals per year.
These findings are a warning. Please heed them, just as Israel did by banning production of raw pet food products. Encourage and help implement strict oversight over the pet food industry and the agriculture industry. Eradicate these incredibly dangerous threats before they have the chance to eradicate more innocent living beings.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Ricardo Esquivel
Our animals are our pets and our family. We feel honored to have them and privileged to have their loving devotion. Yet pet food companies want more profit thus they increase their bottom line by whatever means necessary. They are knowingly killing our loved ones. I strongly feel they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. When will lives take the place of the bottom line? They could have been respected and making something nutritional for our pets but no … money mean’s more to them. They need to face the law and then the money will be taken from them for cost costs and lawyer fees.
Animals also have feelings and emotions, they also know pain, fear, love and want to be loved.
Please help and adopt, please don’t chase, don’t throw away your pets, especially when they are sick or old. Their life and whole world can only trust and rely on you.