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For Immediate Release
December, 10 2018, 11:00pm EDT
Contact:
Kate Kiely, 212-727-4592 or kkiely@nrdc.org
McDonald's Commits to Reducing Antibiotic Use in its Global Beef Supply
Action by world’s largest burger chain could signal shift for fast food industry
WASHINGTON
McDonald's, the world's largest and most iconic burger restaurant chain, today announced it will address antibiotics use across its global beef supply chain by 2021. The new policy directs its global suppliers to reduce use of the drugs in beef produced for the company, with implementation beginning next year with pilot projects in 10 markets around the world, including the U.S. The Natural Resources Defense Council has been a stakeholder engaged on the policy since early 2018.
McDonald's is the first major burger chain to announce a comprehensive antibiotic use reduction policy for all beef sold by its restaurants--and the largest, by far. It joins a small group of other fast food industry leaders that have either cut antibiotic use in their beef supplies or are committed to do so, including Chipotle, Panera and Subway.
A statement follows from Lena Brook, Interim Director of Food and Agriculture at the Natural Resources Defense Council:
"This important step forward raises the bar for other burger chains and sends an unmistakable market signal to beef producers worldwide. Nobody in the world sells more burgers than McDonald's, and their actions can shape the future of the industry. With Washington asleep at the wheel on this rising health threat, leadership in the marketplace is essential. We will be watching with great interest to see how this policy unfolds."
Background
More medically important antibiotics are sold for use in cows than people or any other animal. In the U.S., about 95 percent of drugs given to livestock and poultry are routinely distributed en masse in feed or water--often to animals that are not sick to help them survive crowded and unsanitary conditions on industrial farms.
This practice contributes to the rise and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and increases the risk of drug-resistant infections in humans. Leading medical experts warn that we must stop overuse of antibiotics in human medicine and animal agriculture, or else the life-saving drugs we rely on to treat common infections and enable medical procedures could increasingly stop working.
Conservatively, at least 2 million Americans are already infected with antibiotic-resistant infections every year, and at least 23,000 die as a direct result, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More than half of the U.S. chicken industry--spurred by commitments from fast food chains and meat producers--is now under a commitment to address antibiotics overuse in its supply chain.
The beef industry, in contrast, has taken very little action to date. With 43 percent of medically important antibiotics sold to the U.S. livestock sector going to the beef industry--compared to only 6 percent for chicken--addressing overuse in beef production is critical to combat drug resistance.
NRDC works to safeguard the earth--its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. We combine the power of more than three million members and online activists with the expertise of some 700 scientists, lawyers, and policy advocates across the globe to ensure the rights of all people to the air, the water, and the wild.
(212) 727-2700LATEST NEWS
'Our Country Is Obsessed With War,' Tlaib Says as House Approves $832 Billion Military Bill
"Every year, Congress votes to invest in death and destruction instead of healthcare, housing, clean air and water, or ending child poverty here at home," said Rep. Rashida Tlaib.
Jul 18, 2025
The U.S. House passed legislation early Friday that would provide roughly $832 billion in funding for military programs for the coming fiscal year, a vote that came shortly after the chamber approved a $9 billion rescissions package that takes an axe to public media and foreign aid.
Five House Democrats—Reps. Don Davis of North Carolina, Jared Golden of Maine, Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, Adam Gray of California, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington—joined most Republicans in voting for the military appropriations bill for fiscal year 2026. Just three Republicans voted no.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), who opposed the legislation along with other members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, wrote on social media following the vote that "our country is obsessed with war."
"Every year, Congress votes to invest in death and destruction instead of healthcare, housing, clean air and water, or ending child poverty here at home," Tlaib continued. "I will not vote to send another $831.5 billion to the Pentagon."
Republican supporters of the legislation touted provisions that boost investments in the immensely wasteful F-35 and other aircraft, support "modernization of the nuclear triad," and allocate "approximately $13 billion for missile defense and space programs to augment and integrate in support of the Golden Dome effort."
"In the middle of the night, House Republicans just passed a bill that will dump billions into the Pentagon, the only agency that has NEVER passed an audit," wrote Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who voted against the legislation. "If we want to actually cut spending—this is a good spot to start. Not by kicking 17 million Americans off their healthcare."
The measure's passage came as the House also worked on an authorization bill that would allow the U.S. military to spend the funds appropriated by lawmakers.
During a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the authorization bill earlier this week, the panel's Republican chairman—who has received millions of dollars in campaign cash from military contractors that benefit from an ever-increasing Pentagon budget—mocked Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) for being the lone opponents of advancing the measure out of committee.
"I am used to the good-natured ribbing from my colleagues," Khanna wrote. "But I do not believe we need a $1 trillion budget to have a strong, modern defense. And I want to see more investment in good jobs at home than billions spent on more wars abroad."
WATCH: Armed Services members mock @RoKhanna for voting against the largest military budget in US history
All other @HASCDemocrats (except @RepSaraJacobs) voted to spend 1 TRILLION on war — even as working families continue to struggle across the country#NDAA @HASCRepublicans https://t.co/uKC9dB7m2J pic.twitter.com/d41N1KYJSO
— Just Foreign Policy (@justfp) July 16, 2025
The House's passage of the military funding bill came minutes after the chamber approved a White House-backed rescissions package that aims to claw back $9 billion in previously approved spending on public broadcasting and foreign assistance.
The rescissions bill now heads to President Donald Trump's desk for his signature.
Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said in a statement that "Republicans once again handed over the congressional power of the purse to Donald Trump and Russell Vought," the director of the Office of Management and Budget.
"This was never about exercising fiscal responsibility," said Boyle. "If it were, Republicans would never have passed their Big Ugly Law that adds trillions to the national debt with massive tax breaks for billionaires. This was about caving to Trump."
The budget law Boyle referenced also included more than $150 billion for the Pentagon, pushing U.S. military spending above $1 trillion.
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"Congress surrendered to the onslaught of crypto political spending and legitimized the world's biggest Ponzi scheme," said one GENIUS Act critic. "They also forfeited an opportunity to stop Trump's massive crypto grift."
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More than 100 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives helped Republicans send what would be the country's first major cryptocurrency law to the desk of President Donald Trump, despite warnings that the legislation would not only further his corruption, but also "expose our financial stability, national security, and consumer protections to greater risk."
All but a dozen voting Republicans and 102 Democrats—including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.)—supported the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, which last month passed the Senate 68-30, with support from 18 Democrats.
If signed by the president, as is expected, the bill would create a regulatory framework for stablecoins, which are pegged to the value of existing assets such as the U.S. dollar. The Trump family's World Liberty Financial has issued the stablecoin USD1.
@housedemocrats.bsky.social Shame on all of you. You have no foresight and no backbone.
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— Jodi Jacobson (@jljacobson.bsky.social) July 17, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Advocacy groups and Democrats critical of the GENIUS Act, and other bills making their way through Congress during "Crypto Week," have highlighted how the legislation would "bolster Trump's business empire while putting American interests at risk."
Leading House Democratic opposition to the GOP's package is Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), who warned last week that "these bills would make Congress complicit in Trump's unprecedented crypto scam."
As Politico detailed Thursday:
Waters and other Democrats called for presidential ethics provisions to be added to the bills, pointing to the Trump family's business entanglements in the crypto industry. Trump and his sons have stakes in several crypto ventures, including a company they launched last year that issues a stablecoin and could benefit from the GENIUS bill that is now awaiting the president's signature.
But a growing bloc of the party has joined Republicans in lining up behind the digital asset industry's Washington agenda, a sign of crypto firms' ascendance as a political force. Companies in the crypto sector have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into influence efforts, and a mountain of super [political action committee] money is threatening to target lawmakers who stand in the way of the industry's goals.
After Thursday's vote, Bartlett Naylor, a financial policy advocate for the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, declared that "today, House members piled venality onto perversion onto corruption. In approving this crypto-enabling bill, Congress surrendered to the onslaught of crypto political spending and legitimized the world's biggest Ponzi scheme."
"To add insult to injury," Naylor added, "they also forfeited an opportunity to stop Trump's massive crypto grift, some of the most heinous and flagrant corruption in American presidential history."
RM @repmaxinewaters.bsky.social slams Republicans’ UNSTABLE Act:“The UNSTABLE Act creates the appearance of a federal framework for #stablecoins, but it does not provide the Federal government with the full authority it needs.” | tinyurl.com/5t2skxvnWATCH: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQWy...
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— U.S. House Committee on Financial Services - Democrats (@ushousefsc.bsky.social) July 17, 2025 at 1:23 PM
In addition to sending the GENIUS Act to Trump, the House advanced two other crypto bills on Thursday: the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, which would create a regulatory framework for digital asset markets, and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, which would prevent the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
All Republicans present and 78 Democrats backed the CLARITY Act, while just Democratic Reps. Jared Golden (Maine) and Shri Thanedar (Mich.) voted alongside the GOP to pass the CBDC ban. Both of those bills still need Senate approval.
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'Weaponization of Data': Trump Admin Gives ICE Personal Info of 79 Million Medicaid Recipients
"Trump said he would go after the 'worst of the worst' immigrants, yet now is giving ICE EVERYONE's Medicaid data, even as ICE targets U.S. citizens," said Rep. Pramila Jayapal.
Jul 17, 2025
The Trump administration is handing over the personal data of every Medicaid enrollee to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
According to The Associated Press Thursday, all 79 million people currently receiving the government health insurance benefit will have information shared with ICE by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS):
The database will reveal to ICE officials the names, addresses, birth dates, ethnic and racial information, as well as Social Security numbers for all people enrolled in Medicaid. The state and federally funded program provides healthcare coverage... for the poorest of people, including millions of children.
The "extraordinary" agreement was struck Monday with CMS and not meant to be publicized, according to the AP. The memo states that its intention is to help ICE find the "location of aliens" across the country.
As one unnamed CMS employee told the AP, "They are trying to turn us into immigration agents."
Republicans have often raised the specter of undocumented immigrants claiming benefits in order to justify cutting the government health insurance program.
However, undocumented immigrants are barred from receiving federally funded Medicaid coverage.
The only exception is emergency Medicaid, which covers lifesaving services and which the government requires to be extended to anyone who needs it regardless of status—though this makes up just 1% of overall Medicaid spending.
Some states have also expanded Medicaid to include noncitizens not covered by the federal program. However, that money comes from state budgets rather than the federal one.
Last month, President Donald Trump demanded that CMS hand over the personal data of the millions of Medicaid enrollees in the seven states that allow noncitizens to apply, a move that dozens of states sued to prevent.
At the time, the government justified it as a measure to simply root out fraud and abuse. But under Monday's agreement, the AP says, the Department of Homeland Security "will use the data to identify, for deportation purposes, people who [are] in the country illegally."
However, nearly everyone enrolled in Medicaid is either an American citizen or other legal resident.
Given that the president has made very clear his intent to begin denaturalizing and deporting American citizens, the handing of tens of millions of people's sensitive information to ICE is causing widespread alarm.
"Trump is letting ICE track Americans using their personal and private Medicaid health data. Undocumented immigrants aren't eligible to receive Medicaid, but other people they want to target and track are," said Melanie D'Arrigo, the executive director of the the Campaign for New York Health. "They're not going to stop at immigrants."
"The massive transfer of the personal data of millions of Medicaid recipients should alarm every American," Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) told the AP. "This massive violation of our privacy laws must be halted immediately. It will harm families across the nation and only cause more citizens to forego lifesaving access to healthcare."
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) wrote in a post on X that, "This is about the weaponization of data, full stop. Trump said he would go after the 'worst of the worst' immigrants, yet now is giving ICE EVERYONE's Medicaid data, even as ICE targets U.S. citizens."
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