September 25, 2014

 

US lawmakers call for control of antibiotic use in livestock

 

 

Following a Reuters investigation which exposed the use of drugs in livestock by top US poultry companies, two US lawmakers has called for the control of antibiotic applications in animals.

 

Reuters has went through more than 320 internal documents, called 'feed tickets', that detail the practices of five major companies including Tyson Foods, Pilgrim's Pride, Perdue Farms, George's and Koch Foods. The feed tickets list the names and grams per tonne of each active drug ingredient in feed. They also indicate the FDA-approved purpose of those medications, and specify a particular stage in a chicken's six-week life when the feed should be administered.

 

In response to the Reuters report, the National Chicken Council declared that the majority of antibiotics approved for use in raising chickens are not used in human medicine, thus posing no threat of developing resistance.

 

Meanwhile, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand plans to introduce a new legislation which permits the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to collect data on "farm-level antibiotic use". The pledge was part of a letter that Gillibrand had send to FDA Commissioner, Margaret Hamburg.

 

According to Gillibrand, the legislation would enable the FDA to track farm-level antibiotic use by collecting veterinary prescriptions. Under a new FDA rule, company veterinarians will be required to issue a prescription whenever antibiotics are used. However, rule doesn't take effect until April 2016.

 

Another member of Congress, Louise Slaughter, has introduced legislation in February 2013 that would require drug makers, livestock producers and the FDA to release more data on antibiotic use in food animals.

 

"Industry has kept data showing the rampant, dangerous use of antibiotics hidden from the public for one reason: to protect corporate profits at the expense of public health," Slaughter claimed.

 

So far, documents have revealed that the use of antibiotics is a standard practice for birds, regardless of health conditions. In every instance of antibiotic use identified, the doses were at the low levels that scientists believe are especially conducive to the growth of superbugs, bacteria capable of gaining resistance to conventional medicines used to treat people. Some of the antibiotics belong to categories considered medically important to humans.

 

While some companies are reluctant to discuss the medication of their flocks,

Foster Poultry Farms has acknowledged that it uses antibiotics, chlortetracycline and penicillin selectively, but not as part of standard feed. The two drugs are in the same classes as antibiotics identified by the FDA to be of critical importance for human health.

 

The use of antibiotics, which are rated medically important by the FDA for growth promotion, is scheduled to be phased out by December 2016.