It was a pleasant surprise to learn this week that three large poultry companies had greatly reduced their use of antibiotics in healthy chickens, a move that could help slow the appearance of antibiotic resistance in bacteria that cause diseases in humans. Other companies ought to follow the lead of these pioneers, and Congress ought to ban the use of medically important antibiotics in animal husbandry except to cure sick animals.
Strong action is needed because many germs that infect humans are growing resistant to treatment with antibiotics. Such resistance occurs unavoidably over time as antibiotic kills off vulnerable strains of a germ and leaves only the more resistant strains to multiply. But in recent decades the growth of resistance has been increased by overuse of antibiotics in agriculture, where companies routinely use the drugs to promote growth on less feed and to prevent disease in healthy animals. As a result, some germs that infect both animals and humans have become resistant to antibiotics, and even germs that do not infect humans are capable of transferring their antibiotic-resistance genes to germs that do.
That is why the report in Sunday’s Times by Marian Burros was so encouraging. She found that three poultry companies that produce a third of the chickens consumed by Americans each year - Foster Farms, Perdue Farms and Tyson Foods — have greatly reduced the use of antibiotics in healthy chickens and are using them primarily to treat sick chickens.
There is no reason that other poultry producers could not do the same, and probably the pork and beef industries as well. It is unacceptable that any industry should use medically important antibiotics for the economic purpose of fostering growth. Congress and the Food and Drug Administration need to restrain the use of animal antibiotics that are related to human medicines.
【小题1】it can be inferred from the first paragraph that _________ .| A．three poultry companies are forced to use fewer antibiotics |
| B．other companies have followed the practice of the pioneers |
| C．antibiotic resistance in bacteria may result in human disease |
| D．antibiotics are never needed in whatever kind of situations |
| A．To illustrate how the three poultry companies use antibiotics |
| B．To emphasize the functions of antibiotics in animal husbandry |
| C．To show the author’s prediction of the future use of antibiotics |
| D．To represent the decline in antibiotics use in the poultry industry |
| A．increase | B．limit | C．promote | D．restore |
| A．Intolerable | B．Favorable | C．Neutral | D．Ambiguous |
