We’re losing the war. We have the most powerful, technologically advanced weapons, but our clumsy use of them is causing more harm than good. We are in fact creating an environment where we are squandering our resources while creating new enemies at an alarming rate.

I’m not talking about America’s war on terrorism. I’m talking about America’s war on germs.

As Katie Couric revealed in a recent CBS News investigation, our indiscriminate use of antibiotics is rapidly rendering them ineffective against new generations of resistant super germs, which now kill 70,000 Americans a year. That number is equivalent to two 9/11 attacks per month.

The bulk of our antibiotic use is in livestock, to make them grow faster and to keep them from infections that would rapidly spread in crowded, stressed, factory-farm conditions. MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is widespread where animals are raised with antibiotics, but it’s not found on farms that avoid using them.

Recent research has found that antibiotics (literally “against life”) work by flooding bacteria with DNA-damaging free radicals. Sometimes that kills the bacteria, but sometimes it just makes them mad. Just kidding. Actually, it makes them mutate. And here’s the kicker: these mutations accelerate the bacteria’s development of resistance not just to one antibiotic, but to several at the same time.

Denmark and other European countries have already reduced or eliminated the use of antibiotics in healthy animals, and their incidence of antibiotic-resistant infections has plummeted accordingly. In the U.S. we are just now taking steps to monitor the problem.

Super germs can be spread not only by eating contaminated chicken, pork or beef, but by handling it. Even worse, they can be spread through the water and air. Seventy thousand lives a year. And all this to make meat 5 to 15 percent cheaper.

Fortunately, while you’re waiting to be rescued by the FDA, you can avoid much of your exposure and stop contributing to the problem by voting with your food dollars. In our meat and deli departments we’re proud to offer the same antibiotic-free Applegate products spotlighted by Katie Couric, along with our abundant selection of organic, local, antibiotic- and hormone-free fresh meats.