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Tamar F. Barlam
Because of routine antibiotic use in agriculture,
bacteria like Salmonella and Campylobacter that cause food
poisoning are becoming
increasingly
resistant to antibiotics. Resistant infections
can result in more severe illnesses and more deaths than infections
that can be treated with antibiotics.
The American Medical Association (AMA)
recently added its authoritative voice to an increasingly
global call for an end to the routine use of antibiotics in
agriculture. With the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) unwilling,
or unable, to act, our medical arsenal is rapidly being depleted
of one of its chief weapons in the fight against food-borne
illness.
Farmers started feeding low levels of
penicillin and other common antibiotics to livestock decades
ago because the drugs appeared
to help animals kept in crowded, dirty "factory farms"
grow faster. But when animals are given low doses
of antibiotics, only some of the bacteria are killed.
The stronger, more resistant bacteria
survive, multiply, and pass on their strength and resistance
to future generations. A recent report by the Union of Concerned
Scientists estimates that 70 percent of antibiotics used in
this country are given to animals for growth promotion and
other non-medical uses. That's a lot of pigs, chicken, and
cattle eating the antibiotics you might need one day to treat
your children.
Last month, the AMA adopted a resolution
urging that the non-medical use in animals of antibiotics
should be terminated or phased out. The AMA's position aligned
it with the World Health Organization, American Public Health
Association, and a growing list of physicians, scientists,
veterinarians, and -- importantly -- parents who want that
use to stop.
But the AMA's reward for issuing responsible
advice was to be blasted by the Animal Health Institute (AHI),
which represents companies that produce animal drugs. Belittling
the evidence for the AMA's action as "simply not true,"
AHI ignores compelling scientific studies that have accumulated
over the past 30 years.
A multi-agency task force, led by the
Centers for Disease Control, recently developed an action
plan to combat anti-microbial (antibiotic) resistance. Several
measures addressed the agricultural uses of antibiotics, including
implementation of the FDA's framework for reevaluating currently
approved veterinary anti-microbial drugs.
Unfortunately, the government's action
plan, which has been widely recognized as a near-comprehensive
plan for reducing resistance, has yet
to receive any funding.
Current laws make it almost impossible
for the FDA to prove that using antibiotics as growth promoters
can endanger the health of people. That is why new legislation
is needed to shift that burden of proof where it belongs --
to the drug and agricultural industries.
Instead of forcing the FDA to prove that
agricultural uses of antibiotics are unsafe, a
new law is needed to ban the drugs unless the manufacturer
can prove they are safe. Attacking the problem
from a different direction, Congress also should provide financial
incentives to poultry, hog, and cattle operations that use
fewer antibiotics.
Further information gathering and research
is important. But we should not endanger patients' health
as we slowly amass more data. There is overwhelming research
to justify serious concern -- and decisive action -- now.
TomPaine.com
September 4, 2001
AlterNet.org
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