Washington, DC - The Keep Antibiotics Working (KAW) campaign today held demonstrations across the country at local McDonald’s and Burger King restaurants calling on the nation’s largest fast food chains to require their suppliers to eliminate the inappropriate use of antibiotics in meat production. The protests were held in Columbus, OH; Lewiston, ME; Miami, FL and Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN.

The KAW coalition has been waging a campaign over the past year to get both McDonald’s and Burger King to address the problem of routine antibiotic use in livestock and poultry -- a practice that scientists link to rising problems with antibiotic resistant infections in people. To date, tens of thousands of letters have been sent to the companies and protests were already held in Bangor and Portland, ME and Chicago, IL.

“Most Americans do not get to ‘have it their way’ when it comes to antibiotics in meat production. They may also lose the ability to be cured when their antibiotics don't work in the future,” said Michael Khoo from the Union of Concerned Scientists. “Burger King and McDonald's must act now to stop the overuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture and protect public health.”

It is estimated that 70% of the antibiotics used in the United States are routinely fed to pigs, cows and chickens to promote slightly faster growth and to compensate for crowded, stressful conditions at industrial-scale farms. Much of this meat ends up in fast food.

“Scientific evidence continues to show that antibiotic resistance is growing. Only one new class of antibiotics has been developed in the last 25 years. Unless we reduce the inappropriate use of antibiotics in farm animals, we’re going to run out of these critical medicines,” said David Wallinga, M.D., a physician with the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. “McDonald’s and Burger King are leaders in the food industry and would make an enormous contribution to public health by reducing antibiotics in their meat supply.”

Local citizens protested with giant “pill burgers” to symbolize the importance of protecting antibiotics from overuse.

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