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 The move from the Congregation of Benedictine Sisters of Boerne,
Texas, comes amid growing concern from public health experts that
the overuse of such drugs is contributing to rising numbers of
life-threatening human infections from antibiotic-resistant bacteria
dubbed "superbugs."
The sisters withdrew a similar shareholder resolution shortly after
McDonald's USA announced in March that within two years it would
phase out chicken produced with antibiotics important to human
health.
While McDonald's is taking a step forward, it is still far from the
congregation's goal, Sister Susan Mika said. She represented the
nuns at the McDonald's annual meeting on May 21, where she announced
that the resolution had been dropped, although it still cited
concern over McDonald's pork and beef supplies.
"This double standard makes no sense to us; what's good for the
goose, ought to be good for the gander, or in this case, the whole
farmyard," Mika said on Thursday.
So, the sisters are back and pressing the world's biggest restaurant
chain to expand its antibiotic policy to include beef and pork, and
to take it global.
McDonald's did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
An estimated 70 percent of antibiotics important to human health are
sold for use in meat and dairy production.
Veterinary use of antibiotics is legal. However, as the number of
human infections from antibiotic-resistant bacteria increases,
consumer advocates and public health experts have become more
critical of the practice of routinely feeding antibiotics to
chickens, cattle and pigs.
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"We can reach a lot of people's lives every day if changes are made"
at McDonald's and other fast-food chains, said Mika, who added that
other shareholder groups of nuns and priests have vowed to back the
new resolution.
The sisters are a member of the Interfaith Center on Corporate
Responsibility (ICCR).
The Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock, of
Manhasset, New York, another ICCR member, separately has filed a
shareholder resolution asking Hormel Foods Corp to phase out the
routine use of important human antibiotics in the hogs and turkeys
it raises, as well as those provided by contract suppliers.
Hormel did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The
company, known for its Spam canned meat, recently bought organic
meat seller Applegate Farms.
(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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