December 15, 2010

US sells 28.7 million pounds antibiotics for livestock use

In 2009, the US sold 28.7 million pounds of antimicrobial drugs for use in food animals, according to the figures released by the FDA.

The agency did not, however, report the data in a way that makes it possible to distinguish the quantities of drugs used to treat sick animals from those used to promote growth or prevent disease. This issue has become a key factual dispute between the public health community and organisations representing meat production, pharmaceuticals and food-animal medicine, including the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA).

The FDA said that providing the data in that way would have disclosed confidential business information. The agency declined to comment further. The AVMA, the nation's largest veterinary organisation with about 80,000 members, does not plan to publicly respond to the report, spokesman, David Kirkpatrick, said.

The figures are the first released under a data-reporting provision passed by Congress in 2008. The new requirement was meant to inform the national debate about the proper use of antimicrobial drugs in food animals, and its link to drug-resistant infections in humans.

Many in the public health community believe that the practice of giving low doses of antibiotics to cattle, pigs and poultry that are not clinically sick promotes the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and could be phased out without significant consequences. The meat and poultry industry, drug makers and the AVMA oppose curtailing such uses, maintaining that doing so would compromise animal health and food safety while delivering little or no benefit in the fight against drug-resistant infections in humans.

Legislation to restrict the use of drugs for growth promotion and disease prevention in food animals as been introduced in Congress several times but has never advanced beyond committee.