Milestones: Preventing the spread of ‘superbugs’

Tackling the No. 4 cause of death

For Matt Wellington, stopping the overuse of antibiotics is personal.

Each time his wife has sought treatment for a recurring, potentially life-threatening infection, Matt, PIRG’s public health campaigns director, has wondered: What if this is the time the antibiotics don’t work?

Matt’s concern is shared by a growing number of doctors, public health experts and patients. Researchers estimate that up to 162,000 Americans die annually from antibiotic-resistant infections, making them the fourth leading cause of death in the country.

That’s why in 2014 PIRG launched our campaign to reduce the overuse of antibiotics in the poultry and livestock industries.

Despite concerns that the overuse of antibiotics spawns antibiotic-resistant superbugs, as late as 2016 an estimated 70 percent of medically important antibiotics sold in the U.S. were intended for use on animals — most of whom weren’t even sick.

A chain reaction sparked

To reduce the overuse of antibiotics on industrial-scale poultry and livestock operations (often called factory farms), PIRG targeted major restaurant chains, on the assumption that they are more sensitive to consumer demand.

The strategy worked. PIRG won our first commitment from McDonald’s. After a year-long campaign waged on college campuses, in communities and on social media, we delivered more than 30,000 petition signatures to the company’s headquarters. On March 4, the chain announced it would stop serving chicken raised on medically important antibiotics. Weeks later, Tyson Foods, a major supplier of chicken to McDonald’s, made its own commitment to phase out the routine use of antibiotics.

Next, we turned our focus to Subway. PIRG’s public health team organized more than 500 health professionals to sign a letter urging the restaurant to help protect public health. Among the signers was Dr. Lance Price of the Antibiotic Resistance Action Center at George Washington University, who would later join Matt in launching a podcast on the issue. In the fall, we delivered a petition signed by more than 100,000 of our supporters. On October 20, Subway announced a plan to phase out all meat raised on antibiotics.

Burger King, Wendy’s and other chains soon followed suit. By the end of 2016, seven of the top 15 highest-grossing restaurant chains in the U.S. had committed to phasing out routine antibiotics from their chicken supplies.

To keep the industry in the spotlight, in 2017, U.S. PIRG Education Fund joined our coalition partners in publishing “Chain Reaction,” an annual report card ranking America’s largest fast food and fast casual restaurants on their routine antibiotic use in their beef, pork and poultry supply chains. The report card has had an impact: When fast food chain BurgerFi received an “A” in “Chain Reaction IV,” the company beat out its competitors for a contract with the United States Air Force.

Since the launch of PIRG’s campaign, the share of antibiotics sold for livestock has dropped by 15 percent nationwide.

About this series: PIRG and The Public Interest Network have achieved much more than we can cover on this page. You can find more milestones of our work on public health below. You can also explore an interactive timeline featuring more of our network’s public health milestones.