July 21, 2010

FDA questioned over animal antibiotics guidance

The "guidance" on the use of antibiotics in livestock and poultry production issued recently by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could lead to elimination or costly review of previously approved animal health products, said the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC).

The FDA guidance calls for antibiotics that are "medically important" to humans to be used in animals only when necessary to assure their health. It also says those antibiotics should be administered with veterinary oversight or consultation. FDA says the guidance would be used to develop public policy on animal antibiotic use.

"This guidance could eliminate certain antibiotics that are extremely important to the health of animals," says NPPC president Sam Carney, an Iowa pork producer from Adair. "It could have a tremendous negative impact on animal health and ultimately, the safety of food. As we know, healthy animals produce safe food, and we need every available tool to protect animal health."

Antibiotics currently not labelled for preventing, treating or controlling diseases could continue to be used if, after undergoing a second rigorous FDA-approval process, one of those label claims is proved. The process typically takes seven to 10 years and can cost antibiotics manufacturers millions of dollars.

The requirement that all antibiotics be accompanied by feed directives, for example, could be problematic given the country's severe shortage of large animal veterinarians, NPPC said.

"Producers work with their veterinarians to develop animal health plans that include the judicious use of antibiotics," says Carney. "The pork industry also has programmes, including the FDA-reviewed Pork Quality Assurance Plus programme, that educate hog producers about the responsible use of antibiotics."

The FDA guidance, which does not have the force of law but may be treated as such by FDA, is a move to address an increase in antibiotic resistant illnesses in humans, which opponents of modern animal agriculture blame on the use of antibiotics in livestock and poultry production.

However, scientists with the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health said there is no scientific study linking antibiotic use in food animal production with antibiotic resistance in humans.