Introductory Paragraph
A consumer is walking through the meat department of their local grocery store looking for beef steaks for dinner that night. As the consumer is comparing labels on two separate brands of steaks that are priced differently, he notices a small phrase written in the bottom corner of the package: BEEF RAISED FREE OF ANTIBIOTICS. The consumer wonders what effects the antibiotics have on the quality of the product: Are antibiotics harmful to humans? How do antibiotics affect meat? How does this affect the cost? Should antibiotics be banned? Are antibiotics being overused? All of these questions are commonly asked when debating about antibiotic use on livestock. Although many producers in livestock use legal antibiotics on their animals and in their animal feed, the antibiotics are dangerous and unnecessary because of effects such as market-price changes, animal health effects, and human health risks.