April 7, 2014
 
FDA succeeds in voluntary prohibition of antibiotics in livestock

 
25 of the 26 pharmaceutical companies that make veterinary antibiotics have agreed to calls from the US FDA for new drug labels prohibiting their use for growth promotion in livestock.

Sceptics scoffed late last year when the US FDA issued voluntary guidelines to restrict the use of antibiotics in livestock. Most of the antibiotic use in the country is in the agriculture industry, with the drugs regularly added to animal feed to promote growth and prevent infections from spreading in crowded and unsanitary operations. The voluntary guidelines would never be followed, critics predicted, and agricultural antibiotics would continue to contribute to the rise of resistant infections that sicken two million people a year in the US and kill 23,000.

So far, the results have been better than expected. In just the last four months, 25 of the 26 pharmaceutical companies that make antibiotics for veterinary treatment have agreed to new drug labels prohibiting their use for growth promotion in livestock. (The 26th company is a small company that caters to the fish farming industry.) For their use, the drugs must be prescribed by a veterinarian rather than sold over the counter; that will end the practice of adding them to feed.

This is a significant achievement for the FDA, which had issued the voluntary rules which were long overdue. The FDA, however, faces possible challenges.

Agricultural antibiotics can still be prescribed for disease prevention, and that's not a problem as long as it's done appropriately. If some livestock have been exposed to a highly contagious disease, for example, it makes sense to treat the animals around them or perhaps the whole herd. Such prescriptions are supposed to have fixed start and end dates so they don't become a substitute for poor animal husbandry practices.
The problem is that unethical veterinarians could become prescription mills for feedlots they've never even visited. The FDA therefore needs some clear rules for veterinarians, including a requirement that they at least occasionally visit the farms they prescribe. Oversight will be needed to ensure that prescriptions to prevent disease are written only when necessary, and for defined periods of time.

Trade associations for pork, chicken and beef producers have also supported the new guidelines.