You can help to end the overuse of antibiotics in healthy farm animals in a number of ways: participating in action alerts, taking action at a local level, and making informed consumer choices.

Action Alerts | State & Local Action | Citizen's Toolkit

ACTION ALERTS -- Become a member of KAW's action alert network!

• Tell Congress to pass legislation that would keep antibiotics working. ACT NOW

  OPTIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL ACTION
  Actions at the state and local level can have a major impact — not only in those communities but also elsewhere — by stimulating demand for food products using fewer antibiotics, and by setting precedents that other communities can adopt. The following is a short list of options for action at the state and local level.
  
  In your home, school or workplace:

• Distribute Keep Antibiotics Working fact sheets.
• Ask school or workplace chefs to only serve meat raised without routine antibiotics, including organic.
• Encourage state and municipal institutions, such as school boards and hospitals, to voluntarily procure meat, fish and poultry using policies at least as protective of human health as that of Bon Appetit food service company.
• Encourage state and local lawmakers to write or sponsor legislation:
  1. Requiring supermarkets to display information on whether the meat and poultry sold in the store has been raised using medically important antibiotics as feed additives;
  2. Requiring municipal- and/or state-funded food service facilities to preferentially purchase meat, poultry and seafood products raised without routine use of medically important antibiotics as feed additives.
  3. Establishing a fee on sales of animal feeds containing medically important antibiotics, with the proceeds used to support on-farm demonstrations of alternatives to antibiotic feed additives;
  4. Banning the sale of meat, poultry and fish raised with routine use of medically important antibiotics as feed additives; and
  5. Requiring the collection of data on antibiotic sales.

  For more information, please contact KAW Coordinator Lisa Isenhart at (773) 525-4952.

  CITIZEN'S TOOL KIT

  • Think about writing a letter to the editor of your local paper on this issue. For help, see KAW member HSUS' Tips for Writing a Letter to the Editor.
  • Set up a personal meeting with your legislator to talk about the issue. For help, see our Personal Contact With Your Legislator.
  • Communicate with your legislator by writing a letter, emailing or faxing. For help, see our Communicating With Your Legislator.