Here's a surprise: Most antibiotic use in the United States doesn't come from people trying to cure their winter colds and flu. About 80 percent is for farm animals — causing major public health problems, according to many health experts.

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In a new report, The Natural Resources Defense Council specifically fingered 30 penicillin and tetracycline drugs for "nontherapeutic use" in farm animal feed, approved by the Food and Drug Administration between 2001 and 2010, as particularly dangerous. These drugs are used for growth promotion or to prevent disease, not to treat illness among food animals. 

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Eighteen of the 30 drugs the NRDC reviewed were deemed to have a "high risk" of exposing humans to antibiotic-resistant bacteria, deadly infections that kill upward of 23,000 Americans every year. Most of these drugs would likely not pass FDA inspection today, the report added.

The remaining 12 additives could not be categorized for risk due to insufficient information — a requirement that should have forced the FDA to not approve use of the drugs, the NRDC said.

At least 26 of the drugs approved would not have even met the safety requirements from as far back as 1973.

The NRDC asked that the FDA stop the use of these drugs immediately, and stated that the agency has “failed for four decades to prove that [the additives] are safe for human health.”

Until the elimination of unnecessary antibiotic use, consumers should purchase animals products labeled “Certified Organic” or “No Antibiotics Administered,” advised the council.

“These findings are troubling for a number of reasons,” wrote microbiologist and NRDC fellow Carmen Cordova, in an accompanying blog post. “The report again draws attention to continued FDA inaction on antibiotics used in poultry and livestock production amidst mounting evidence of a threat to public health. Medical and scientific authorities have consistently warned of the dangers of antibiotic resistance and pointed to animal use of antibiotics as a contributor to the problem.”

Late last year, the FDA outlined a plan to help farmers phase out certain antibiotic use in animals, a major step forward in the fight for safe antibiotic use. The organization hopes unnecessary use of antibiotics will be eliminated within three years, and said it will take further action if food producers refuse.

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