The use of antibiotics in animal feed is for the purpose of making the animals grow faster and more efficiently. Ranchers think that by placing antibiotics in the food of their animals that the antibiotics will kill off unwanted bacteria and allow more of the food consumed to be converted into meat. This has been going on since 1946 on the ranches around the world. In the US, the CDC has estimated that 50 million pounds of …showed first 75 words of 561 total…

…showed last 75 words of 561 total…somewhere and the evidence is starting to point at this. As far as ethical issues in this debate, I believe the only one would be with the use of drugs on animals. We don't even know all the adverse effects that it could be doing to the animal or the consumer. I think we should live by the motto: if it isn't broken, don't fix it. So, if the cow isn't sick, don't treat it.