June 3, 2005

US concern over use of antibiotics in feed additives

According to Environmental Defense (ED), Delaware state and Sussex county are among the largest users of antibiotic and growth-promoting feed additives in the US.  It is estimated by researchers that the annual usage on Delaware farms total more than 381,000 pounds of antibiotics, three times the amount of antibiotics per thousand square miles as the next nearest state, North Carolina.  The annual antibiotic usage in feed additives by North Carolina and Iowa amount to three million pounds, comparable to nationwide annual antibiotic usage in human medicine.  There is a trend all over the US that domestic use of antibiotics as feed additives to farm animals is contributing to the development of drug-resistant bacteria that could be a threat to public health, ED says.

According to ED, antibiotic-resistant bacteria could reside not only in human food supply but also in live animals and their waste.

Some scientists also fear that the protective value of antibiotics can be negated when resistant bacteria in turn spread to farm workers, family members, the soil, public waters and the general public.

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health reports that studies suggest people living in areas with intensive use of antibiotics as feed additives are at greater risk of contracting antibiotic-resistant infections.

In response, some industry groups claim that the statistical methods used by ED are inaccurate. According to a spokesperson for the Animal Health Institute (AHI), the use of antibiotics in animals has decreased in the last five years.