Farm use of antibiotics

The Milken Institute's Review takes on antibiotics resistance from an economic perspective. On agriculture:

The greatest quantities of antibiotics in the United States – 80 percent by weight – are actually used in agriculture, rather than in treatment of humans. While an antibiotic
purchase for human use requires a prescription, no such requirement limits veterinary or agricultural use. In fact, it is easy to purchase pharmacy-quality antibiotics over the Internet, even for use in home fish tanks. In April, the FDA announced that the agency would no longer permit antibiotic use to promote growth (as opposed to curing or preventing infection) and that purchases would eventually require a prescription. But at least for the moment, the initiative has no teeth; compliance
will be largely voluntary.

Yet evidence from the European Union, where antibiotic use for the promotion of animal growth is banned, shows that most animal producers were able to manage well without them. Only farms marred by crowding, inadequate ventilation and poor hygiene apparently need regimes of low-dose antibiotics to compensate. Note the parallels between farms and hospitals: antibiotics constitute a lower-cost substitute for better hygiene or infection control, which would prevent disease
in the first place.

The Times has more, particularly on the ridiculous availability and lack of oversight.