(USA) Animal agriculture is no longer flying under the radar when it comes to its use of antibiotics, especially in feed.
Last week, over 1,000 physicians and nurses called on Congress to enact legislation prohibiting non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in animal production. Three-hundred hospitals are pledging to make changes in their food service meat purchases to exclude meat raised with antibiotics. (See related article in Agri-View this week.)
However, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) cautioned against federal bans on the judicious use of antimicrobials in animal agriculture.
An organization calling itself Health Care Without Harm announced support of antibiotics legislation on the eve of a hearing last week by the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health to examine the use of antibiotics in animal agriculture. HCWH (www.noharm.org) is an international coalition of more than 430 organizations in 52 countries, working to make the health care industry worldwide ecologically sustainable. HCWH’s agenda includes avoiding food raised with growth hormones and antibiotics.
“The healthcare community has clearly indicated that they need help from their elected officials in protecting the antibiotics they use for the health of patients and staff,” states Jamie Harvie, chair of the HCWH Healthy Food Initiative. “With antibiotic resistance creating huge financial and public health threats to our healthcare system, we hope our government will support health of people and communities by eliminating non-therapeutic uses of antibiotics in agriculture.”
A statement signed by practitioners includes the following: “We believe that legislation is necessary to preserve the effectiveness of our existing antibiotics.” The statements and names of signers are available here.
Antibiotic resistant bacterial infections are indeed a serious concern for individuals, communities and the health care delivery system. Patients suffer longer illnesses and pay higher medical costs, and health practitioners are left with fewer means to protect their patients from bacterial infection. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 60,000 Americans die annually from antibiotic-resistant infections. The American College of Physicians estimates that $30 billion is spent on the cumulative effects of antimicrobial resistance each year (including multiple drug regimens, extra hospital days, additional medical care and lost productivity).
Earlier this year, the Preservation of Antibiotics for the Medical Treatment Act (HR 1549), which would require the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to re-review the approvals it previously issued for animal feed uses of the seven classes of antibiotics that are important to human medicine, was introduced in Congress. Any found to be unsafe from a resistance point of view will have their approvals rescinded.
As noted, the AVMA testified last week before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, reiterating its stance that a federal ban on the judicious use of antimicrobials in animal agriculture would have far-reaching impacts on both animal and human health. Christine Hoang, testifying on behalf of the AVMA, reassured members of Congress that veterinarians share the same public health concerns as their human health counterparts, but “also have additional concerns that must be considered, such as impacts on animal health and welfare, and even negative impacts on human health that are often unrealized.”
“Without exception, AVMA is supportive of measures to mitigate risks to human health associated with the use of antimicrobials in agricultural animals,” she says. “To avoid potential diversion of resources away from more appropriate disease-control measures, we encourage a regulatory strategy that is based on science, risk-and-benefit analysis, risk management that is commensurate with the level of risk, and cooperation with all relevant stakeholders.”
The AVMA’s Antimicrobial Use Task Force, Hoang testified, recently concluded that veterinarians should be involved in the decision-making process for the use of all antimicrobials in animals, whether the drugs are obtained through prescriptions, Veterinary Feed Directives or over-the-counter.
Source: Agweek
