This is an issue I have been pushing for some time because it amounts to a genuine and widespread health hazard. To quote the Union of Concerned Scientists [1]:

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are on the rise. Patients once effectively treated for pneumonia, tuberculosis, or ear infections may now have to try three or more antibiotics before they find one that works. And as more bacterial strains develop resistance, more people will die because effective antibiotics are not identified quickly enough or because the bacteria causing the disease are resistant to all available antibiotics.

Why have bacterial strains become resistant? The short answer is overuse of antibiotics. Physicians and hospitals have overprescribed the drugs, and patients have demanded them—even for illnesses not caused by bacteria. Veterinarians, too, overprescribe drugs to treat sick animals.

It is livestock producers, however, who use the vast majority of antibiotics produced in the United States. An estimated 70 percent of antibiotics and related drugs produced in this country are used for nontherapeutic purposes such as accelerating animal growth and compensating for overcrowded and unsanitary conditions on large-scale confinement facilities known as "factory farms." This translates to about 25 million pounds of antibiotics and related drugs fed every year to livestock for nontherapeutic purposes—almost eight times the amount given to humans to treat disease.

In the past I reported on the success of campaigns by the Union of Concerned Scientists trying to get chicken farmers to reduce or stop using nontherpeutic antibiotics. We have been making progress...slow progress...on this issue.

This week a pretty major breakthrough occurred with the US FDA Advisory Committee deciding that use of antibiotics commonly used for humans should not be used in raising cattle. Here is the press release from Keep Antibiotics Working [1]:

US FDA Advisory Committee Finds Using Human Antibiotic in Cattle Could Create Antibiotic Resistance and Threaten Human Health

Washington, DC - A key advisory committee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week rejected the claim of the manufacturer Intervet, that its new cattle antibiotic cefquinome could be considered safe for human health. Cefquinome, proposed for use against respiratory disease in cattle, is a 4th generation cephalosporin, a class which includes the important human drug cefepime. Growing scientific evidence shows that use of similar antibiotics in both human medicine and food animal production can erode the effectiveness of drugs vital for use in human medicine

The surprise decision by the FDA’s Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee (VMAC) came at the end of a hearing on Monday, at which the American Medical Association, Infectious Disease Society of America, Keep Antibiotics Working coalition, and Union of Concerned Scientists, testified that use of cefepime in cattle could increase cephalosporin-resistant E. coli and Salmonella bacteria, two major causes of food poisoning (see AMA, IDSA, KAW and UCS testimony at www.keepantibioticsworking.com [2]).

“VMAC’s decision represents an important victory for public health,” said Richard Wood, Keep Antibiotics Working Steering Committee Chair and Executive Director of Food Animal Concerns Trust. “The 4th generation cephalosporins are a vital part of the human drug arsenal. We should not put them at risk by widespread use in cattle.”

The recommendations of the VMAC are not binding but it is rare for committee advice to be ignored. If the FDA accepts the committee’s finding that the safety of cefquinome has not been shown, then the drug will not be approved.

In Europe, where cefquinome has already been approved and used under the brand name Cobactin, resistance to this and other cephalosporins has emerged among E. coli and Salmonella bacteria isolated from livestock. In the U.S, where 4th generation cephalosporins have not been approved for use in animal agriculture, resistance to these drugs is uncommon.

“Several of the committee members raised concerns about the possible widespread use of the drug not only in cattle but in other species” said Wood. “Without basic safeguards in place—controls on extra-label use, monitoring of quantities of drugs used, and adequate support for monitoring the development of resistance—you can’t even consider using critically important human drugs in food animals. It will never be safe.”

This progress has come over considerable past misinformation from agricultural companies as well as ignorance on the part of regulatory agencies and the public. All I can say is that our efforts are finally paying off.

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