This program is a co-production from IRW and FRONTLINE. The Trouble with Antibiotics investigates the widespread use of antibiotics in food animals and whether it is fueling the growing crisis of antibiotic resistance in people.
The full program can also be watched on FRONTLINE’s site.
PBS FRONTLINE, in a co-production with the Investigative Reporting Workshop, is airing a new one-hour program, “The Trouble with Antibiotics,” on Oct. 14 at 10 p.m.
Correspondent and reporter David E. Hoffman looks at the widespread use of antibiotics in food animals and, in a follow-up to last fall’s documentary, “Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria,” talks with the parents of a young man who died at the National Institutes of Health.
“Nearly four decades ago, scientists and government officials warned that widespread antibiotic use to raise food animals could put human health at risk. Today, we’re seeing new scientific evidence those warnings were true, yet the government has been very slow to take action to limit antibiotic use on the farm,” Hoffman says.
He and the FRONTLINE production team traveled to Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Texas to look at antibiotic use on the farm. The program also looks at the history of the use of antibiotics and the gap in data.
“THE TROUBLE WITH ANTIBIOTICS”
- Produced by: Rick Young & Anthony Szulc
- Written by: Rick Young
- Correspondent: David Hoffman
- Editors: Anthony Szulc & Patty Stern
- Associate Producers: Emma Schwartz & Fritz Kramer
- Senior Producer: Frank Koughan
- Research Assistant: Elyssa Pachico
- Director of Photography: Travis Fox
MORE STORIES IN THIS SERIES:
- Emma Schwartz and David E. Hoffman look into the dramatic increases in sales of antibiotics for farm animals.
- Scientists at the FDA understood the dangers of antibiotic resistance in the early 1970s.
- European countries have had legislation aimed at restricting antibiotic use in food animals for more than 20 years.
