ORDINANCE
WHEREAS, the City of Chicago is a home rule unit government pursuant to the 1970 Illinois Constitution, Article VII, Section 6(a); and
WHEREAS, pursuant to its home rule power, the City of Chicago may exercise any power and perform any function relating to its government and affairs including the power to regulate for the protection of the public health, safety, morals, and welfare; and
WHEREAS, the rapid emergence of infections caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria has become a public health crisis; and
WHEREAS, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, each year in the United States, at least 2 million people become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics and at least 23,000 people die each year as a direct result of these infections; and
WHEREAS, any overuse or misuse of antibiotics, whether in human medicine or in agriculture, contributes to the spread of antibiotic resistance; and
WHEREAS, approximately 80 percent of antibacterial drugs disseminated in the United States in 2010 were sold for use on food animals, rather than humans; and
WHEREAS, for more than two decades, scientific experts have concluded that there is a connection between antibiotic use in animals and the loss of effectiveness of these drugs in human medicine; and
WHEREAS, in 1977, the Food and Drug Administration concluded that feeding livestock low doses of antibiotics used in human disease treatment could promote the development of antibiotic-resistance in bacteria; and
WHEREAS, a 1999 study by the Government Accountability Office concluded that resistant strains of 3 microorganisms that cause food-borne illnesses or disease in humans (Salmonella, Campylobacter, and E. coli) are linked to the use of antibiotics in animals; and
WHEREAS, surveys by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection service in 1999, 2001, and 2006 revealed that: (1) 84 percent of grower-finisher swine farms, 83 percent of cattle...
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