Low levels of antibiotics are routinely placed in animal feed in the US. This has two intended consequences, it functions as growth promoter, and it prevents the ill effects of over crowding and poor animal husbandry. It also has a far more dangerous effect, it leads to the development of antibiotic resistance in bacteria. This threatens to throw medicine back to the days before penicillin. People in rich countries may be able to afford ever newer antibiotics in an antibiotics arms race, but such new drugs are likely to be priced out of the reach of the majority of the world's population.

Getting the antibiotics out of animal feed is easy. Congress just needs to pass a law, and came close to doing so in the previous, 111th, session. To light a fire under Congress though and get them to do it this time is the job of the Keep Antibiotics Working coalition. (Note: KAW only accepts grants and doesn't accept individual donations at this time).

Legislation and regulations to minimize the use of antibiotics in animal feed.

$1-5m

Delay emergence of serious resistance by 5-20 years saving 32,000 lives/year (the poor are unlikely to have access to new drugs).

Estimated costs based on a substantial scaling up of private knowledge of KAW's current budget; estimated costs are low because congress is already close on the issue, the low level level actors opposing the measure, and it being a non-fiscal matter; 50% chance of legislative success; problem being averted: 50% chance antibiotic resistance from animal feed is not a serious threat x 0 + 40% chance x 10k deaths/year + 8% chance x 100k death/year + 2% chance 1m deaths/year = 32k deaths/year (for comparison MRSA kills 5,500 americans/year and aids, tb, malaria each kill 1-2m/year); discounted assuming resistance problem will occur 20 years out at 3%/year; 32k x 5-20 x $2m x 0.5 x 0.97**20 = $90b-350b.

$90b-350b

15,000 - 300,000