Use of antibiotics in ethanol production called into question

Here's an interesting angle on the debate about overuse of antibiotics. The ethanol industry is being called upon to stop the unnecessary use of antibiotics in the production process, according to a new investigative report by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP).
More than 70 percent of all U.S. antibiotics are used as feed additives for healthy beef cattle, pigs and poultry to promote growth. But evidence suggests the overuse of antibiotics in livestock is contributing to rising antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections in humans, experts say.

Ethanol producers also add antibiotics to the ethanol fermentation process to control bacterial outbreaks, though it is being gradually phased out thanks to the development of alternative methods.

David Adams, Times staff writer