The largest chicken meat producer in the United States says it will stop giving its birds antibiotics（抗生素） that doctors use to treat humans. Tyson Foods made the announcement on April 28. It said it plans to complete the change by 2017.
Health experts say overuse of the medicines is part of the reason that more bacteria are becoming resistant（耐药性） to them.
Farmers have fed livestock（家畜） small amounts of antibiotics for many years. The drugs help the animals grow faster and prevent the spread of sickness among farm animals that live close together.
But bacteria（细菌） living in and on the animals develop and become immune to the drugs. In other words, the antibiotics no longer have any effect. These drug-resistant bacteria then enter the bodies of people who eat the birds or livestock. Then, diseases in humans become more costly and difficult to treat. Sometimes, treatment does not work at all.
Donnie Smith is the president of Tyson Foods. He says the company has already begun reducing its use of antibiotics.
"As a result of our efforts, only a very small percentage of our chicken flocks（鸡群） receive human antibiotics today."
While the use of antibiotics in birds and livestock is decreasing in the U.S. and Europe, it is expected to increase in the developing world. There is a growing demand for meat there. Livestock producers in those countries are using methods that require antibiotics to keep animals healthy.
Ramanan Laxminarayan is the director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy（美国疾病动态、经济和政策中心的主任）. He says Tyson's announcement shows food producers can continue to operate without using the drugs.
Mr. Laxminarayan says if producers provide cleaner living conditions and better nutrition for their animals, they will not need to give them antibiotics. But he says the buying public must pressure farmers to stop using the drugs.
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