McDonald’s* Emerges as Corporate Leader, Commits to Restrict Routine Antibiotic Use in Beef
Contact: Kyle W. Kempf, Green Century Capital Management, kkempf@greencentury.com, (617) 482-0800
BOSTON, December 14, 2018 — Green Century Capital Management congratulates McDonald’s Corporation for its newly announced commitment to restrict the use of medically important antibiotics in its beef supply chain. As the largest purchaser of beef in the world, the announcement by McDonald’s represents an industry-leading approach that could steer further change towards antibiotic stewardship.
“McDonald’s new policy to address the abuse of antibiotics in its meat supply chain is a tremendous step forward,” said Green Century President Leslie Samuelrich. “By heeding the calls of its shareholders and the medical community, McDonald’s is now positioned as a corporate leader for public health — and I’m lovin’ it.”
McDonald’s will begin by monitoring antibiotic use in its top ten beef sourcing markets across the globe and use that data to set reduction targets for reducing on-farm medically important antibiotic use by the end of 2020. The company will achieve these measures by eliminating the routine use of medically important antibiotics to prevent disease while also restricting the use of the most critically important antibiotics to human health for disease control and treatment.
The announcement comes on the heels of a multi-year campaign by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund, an independent, non-partisan group that advocates for consumers and the public interest. In 2018, Green Century provided direct support to the U.S. PIRG Education Fund campaign Stop the Overuse of Antibiotics to support widespread consumer petition gathering and the production of the fourth installment of the Chain Reaction Report.
“The Golden Arches just raised the bar for responsible antibiotic use in meat production. We can’t afford to misuse these precious medicines. Otherwise, we risk losing our ability to treat life-threatening infections,” said Matthew Wellington, Antibiotics Program Director, U.S. PIRG Education Fund. “McDonald’s new commitment is a promising step forward that will help preserve antibiotics for the future, and that’s something we should all be happy about.”
An estimated 70 percent of antibiotics used in modern human medicine are sold for use in meat and dairy production and leading experts attribute antibiotic resistance in humans to the misuse of antibiotics in food-animal production.
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About Green Century Capital Management
Green Century offers three environmentally and socially responsible mutual funds. Through fossil fuel free investing and our three-pronged approach of sustainable investing, active shareholder advocacy, and support of environmental and public health non-profits we work to curb climate change, improve environmental policies, and limit environmental impacts of company supply chains.
*As of September 30, 2018, McDonald’s Corporation comprised 0.00%, 1.16%, and 0.00% of the Green Century Balanced Fund, the Green Century Equity Fund, and the Green Century International Index Fund, respectively. References to specific securities, which will change due to ongoing management of the Funds, should not be construed as a recommendation by the Funds, their administrator, or their distributor.
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