Antibiotics in U.S. Agriculture.

2011 U.S. livestock producers purchased 29.9 million pounds of antimicrobials,³⁷ including millions of pounds of drugs that are prohibited for nontherapeutic agricultural use in the European Union. It is unknown how much of this was used for growth promotion and disease prevention, although in 2001 the Union of Concerned Scientists estimated that nontherapeutic uses accounted for 93% of the antibiotics used in U.S. livestock.³⁸ The United States uses more antibiotics per kilogram of meat and poultry produced than any other developed country.³⁹