The use of antibiotics by farmers to boost growth in their stocks (by preventing infections in order to maintain healthy appetites and muscle fibre) appears to have led to increased antibiotic resistance in humans. The European Union is sufficiently alarmed to have banned the use of five common animal antibiotics. Instead of encouraging farmers to return to healthier ways of stock-rearing (larger, airier enclosures, more nutritious feeds, etc.) scientists are developing an alternative chemical fix - poultry antibodies which block the actions of appetite-suppressing neurotransmitter peptides, and a feed additive called conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which blocks the chemical messengers which cause muscle-wasting. DCV, the manufacturers of CLA, will be conducting European field trials in early 2000.

Ed.- Does this not infer that we will soon be offered chickens whose illnesses are masked by artificially good appetites and artificially blossoming flesh?