Citing concerns about antibiotic-resistant infections in humans, a federal judge last week ordered the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to finally act to ban the use of antibiotics in animal feed, a process the federal agency started in 1977, but abandoned in the intervening years due to industry pressure.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Theodore Katz ordered the FDA to begin proceedings unless makers of the drugs can produce evidence that their use is safe, Reuters reported.
For years, beef, chicken and pork producers have argued it is not their burden to prove that antibiotics are safe and do not create antibiotic resistance; rather that the government must prove that they are unsafe. This must instill great confidence in consumers that their health comes first.
It’s unfortunate that the judge left open the idea that the drug makers can prove their everyday use in animal feed is safe. They can’t.
Research study after research study — remember, the first call to action was in 1977 — has proven the danger posed by the overuse of antibiotics.
Since the FDA refused to act — in 2010 it issued toothless “voluntary” guidelines — a federal lawsuit was filed last May by environmental and public-health groups, including The Natural Resources Defense Council, Center for Science in the Public Interest and the Union of Concerned Scientists.
The plaintiffs argued that using common antibiotics in livestock feed has contributed to the rapid growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in animals and humans.
Antibiotic-resistant infections cost Americans more than $20 billion each year, the plaintiffs said, citing a 2009 study from the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics and Cook County Hospital.
Every week, a new report brings us more examples of the problem. “Antibiotics in meat give farmers drug-resistant skin infections,” the New Scientist reported last month.
Another headline asks, “Is chicken causing your bladder infections? Probably.” Research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that 85 percent of urinary tract infections are caused by E. coli bacteria found in chicken. The researchers stressed concern about antibiotic-resistant bacteria, particularly as some of the samples in the study were resistant to certain antibiotics.
On the other hand, a study demonstrates that poultry farms using organic methods that don’t involve antibiotics have significantly lower levels of drug-resistant bacteria that can potentially spread to humans.
What’s the diagnosis when lawsuits are needed to get the federal agency charged with ensuring our food and drug safety to take action on a health issue that could’ve been prevented had it acted in 1977, or any of the years since?
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