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To: Antibiotics and the Food System <antibiotics@lists.iatp.org>
From: chris@igc.org
Date: 2001-01-25 12:20:25
Subject: NEWS REPORT: FDA Says Farm Antibiotics Must Be Reined In
Source: http://www.healthmall.com/newsletter.cfm?type=article=1391=
24 Jan 01
FDA Says Farm Antibiotics Must Be Reined In
Escalating rates of
antibiotic-resistant human diseases demand a sweeping re-examination
of the ways that such drugs are now used on the nation's farms, the
Food and Drug Administration warned Monday.
In proposing new regulations
that could, for the first time, suspend farmers' use of any
antibiotics found to promote the spread of resistant human pathogens,
the agency said the link between farm use of such drugs and some
human diseases is now indisputable. (emphasis added - SAS) Although the spread of
resistant microbes from the farm to human populations has been
documented in only a few of the 106 antibiotics used in animals, FDA
officials said the risks are serious enough that the agency's role in
assuring ``an abundant and affordable supply of meat, milk and eggs''
will have to take a back seat to human health concerns. ``FDA's primary goal must be to
protect the public health by preserving the long-term effectiveness
of antimicrobial drugs for treating diseases of humans,'' said
Stephen Sundlof, director of the agency's Center for Veterinary
Medicine, at a three-day public hearing on the proposal in Rockville,
Md. Under the new rules proposed by
the FDA, the agency would create a regulatory framework that would
set specific thresholds at which the appearance of resistance would
trigger an automatic
apply to new drugs developed for agricultural use after the laws go
into effect and could also apply to drugs already in use. The new rules aired Monday
could require congressional approval and will take at least a year to
be enacted, officials said. New information from the
federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta shows,
for the third year in a row, elevated levels of resistant strains of
the country's two leading bacterial causes of food borne illness:
Campylobacter and Salmonella. Although health officials can't
be sure how much of the increase in resistant gastrointestinal
illness is due to the farm - and how much is due to heavy prescribing
of the drugs by doctors - they say farm use is contributing
significantly to the problem. Estimates of total farm use of
antibiotics range from one-third to two-thirds of all antibiotics
used in the United States.
------------------------------------------------------------
Chris Desser
Funders Working Group on Biotechnology
2151 Pacific Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94115
415-561-2627
chris@igc.apc.org
Source:
0000,0000,FFFFhttp://www.healthmall.com/newsletter.cfm?type=article=1391= 24 Jan 01 8080,0000,0000FDA Says Farm
Antibiotics Must Be Reined In
Escalating rates of
antibiotic-resistant human diseases demand a sweeping re-examination of
the ways that such drugs are now used on the nation's farms, the Food
and Drug Administration warned Monday.
In proposing new regulations that
could, for the first time, suspend farmers' use of any antibiotics
found to promote the spread of resistant human pathogens, the
agency said the link between farm use of such drugs and some human
diseases is now indisputable. (emphasis added - SAS)
Although the spread of
resistant microbes from the farm to human populations has been
documented in only a few of the 106 antibiotics used in animals, FDA
officials said the risks are serious enough that the agency's role in
assuring ``an abundant and affordable supply of meat, milk and eggs''
will have to take a back seat to human health concerns.
``FDA's primary goal must be to
protect the public health by preserving the long-term effectiveness of
antimicrobial drugs for treating diseases of humans,'' said Stephen
Sundlof, director of the agency's Center for Veterinary Medicine, at a
three-day public hearing on the proposal in Rockville, Md.
Under the new rules proposed by
the FDA, the agency would create a regulatory framework that would set
specific thresholds at which the appearance of resistance would trigger
an automatic
apply to new drugs developed for agricultural use after the laws go
into effect and could also apply to drugs already in use.
The new rules aired Monday could
require congressional approval and will take at least a year to be
enacted, officials said.
New information from the federal
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta shows, for the
third year in a row, elevated levels of resistant strains of the
country's two leading bacterial causes of food borne illness:
Campylobacter and Salmonella.
Although health officials can't
be sure how much of the increase in resistant gastrointestinal illness
is due to the farm - and how much is due to heavy prescribing of the
drugs by doctors - they say farm use is contributing significantly to
the problem.
Estimates of total farm use of
antibiotics range from one-third to two-thirds of all antibiotics used
in the United States.
------------------------------------------------------------ Chris Desser Funders Working Group on Biotechnology 2151 Pacific Avenue San Francisco, CA 94115 415-561-2627 chris@igc.apc.org
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