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 Second, antibiotics are primarily given to animals - chickens, cows and pigs - to prevent infections brought on by the unsanitary conditions in which they are raised: usually feed houses replete with feces, bacteria and other toxic substances. Third, as David Kirby details in his excellent book "Animal Factory," the runoff from factory farms has already created horrific environmental tragedies around the country by poisoning people's water supply and making them sick with cancer and other diseases.

Earlier this year, the FDA proposed new rules that would temper the meat industry's love affair with antibiotics. Yet these guidelines - which would prohibit antibiotic use for the sole purpose of making animals grow bigger faster - are voluntary rather than mandatory. Asking meat producers to do something out of the goodness of their hearts, regardless of the bottom line, is definitely not the most productive way to handle this situation.

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