Many European farmers still give their animals too many antibiotics

In the 1940s a group of American farmers discovered that antibiotics not only prevented illness in their livestock but also helped the animals grow faster and fatter. That discovery led to routine use of antibiotics, something that boosted agriculture around the world. But for farmers in the European Union, the days of heavy dosing are over. The bloc banned the use of antimicrobials to promote growth in 2006. On January 28th it enacted even stricter rules. These drugs can no longer be given preventatively to herds en masse, nor used to compensate for poor animal welfare, such as overcrowding.