2013 promises to be a busy year when it comes to antibiotic policies. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Congress will be pursuing multiple paths to curb the overuse of these life-saving drugs in meat and poultry production, and we are going to need your help every step of the way to ensure we cross the finish line!
Here’s a primer to help you keep all of the proposed policies straight.
Eliminating the Use of Antibiotics as a Substitute for Good Animal Husbandry
Industrial meat and poultry producers often rely on antibiotics to make their food animals grow faster and to compensate for overcrowded and unsanitary conditions—and these practices are breeding superbugs that can infect us.
Last April, the FDA issued a pair of “guidances” designed to eliminate these practices. The first, known as Guidance #209, is a final document that declared antibiotic use for growth promotion and other economic purposes are inappropriate and should be ended. The second, known as Guidance #213, is a draft document that proposed to the drug industry how to comply with #209.
Nearly 220,000 people submitted comments to the FDA last summer, urging the agency to strengthen these measures. We have identified two major concerns that FDA should address:
Fortunately, on Feb. 26, 2013, Representatives Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) introduced the Delivering Antimicrobial Transparency in Animals (DATA) Act (H.R. 820) in the U.S. House of Representatives. On May 8, 2013, Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced the Antimicrobial Data Collection Act (S. 895). The bills would authorize the FDA to collect and report data that would shed light on how antibiotics are being used on industrial farms.
Comprehensive Legislation to Curb Antibiotic Overuse
Introduced by Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY) on March 14, the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA) (H.R. 1150) would protect eight classes of antibiotics important for treating sick people. It would withdraw their use from food animal production unless animals or herds are sick with disease or unless drug companies can prove that their use does not harm human health. This bill is co-sponsored by 47 members of Congress.
On June 27, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) introduced the Preventing Antibiotic Resistance Act (S. 1256), a bipartisan bill that would also eliminate certain antibiotic-related practices that contribute to the rise of drug-resistant bacteria and endanger human health. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Jack Reed (D-RI), Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) are original co-sponsors of the bill.
Getting all of these policies adopted by Congress or the FDA will take hard work, but you can help! Please stay tuned for more news from us and action alerts asking you to write to your members of Congress and the administration in support of these bills and agency actions.
Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) today introduced the Preventing Antibiotic Resistance Act, a bipartisan bill that would eliminate certain antibiotic-related practices that contribute to the rise of drug-resistant bacteria and endanger human health. The legislation is co-sponsored by Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Jack Reed (D-RI), Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA).
More infoThis bibliography lists the latest published scientific and economic literature concerning the contribution of routine antibiotic use in food animals to the growing public health crisis of human antibiotic resistance. Research on how antibiotic use in food animal production contributes to the growing health crisis of antibiotic resistance dates back more than 30 years.
More infoPew Charitable Trusts today applauded Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Susan Collins (R-ME), for introducing the Antimicrobial Data Collection Act, which would require the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, to report more information on the annual sales of antibiotics used among industrial farm animals. The bipartisan bill would also give the agency a deadline to finalize policies proposed last year to eliminate the use of antibiotics for growth promotion purposes in meat production.
More info"As a nation, we need to exercise greater care with our use of antibiotics, in both humans and animals, so that these medications remain effective in treating serious bacterial infections."
More infoSuperChefs Against Superbugs, an initiative of the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming, is a movement of chefs nationwide who have expressed their support of ending the misuse and overuse of antibiotics in food animal production. As a result, the SuperChefs are urging the Food and Drug Administration to strengthen its antibiotic policies.
More infoSuperChefs Against Superbugs, an initiative of the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming, is a movement of chefs who want to stop the overuse of antibiotics in food animal production. On April 23, the following seven chefs visited Capitol Hill to explain why they serve meat and poultry raised without antibiotics.
More infoIt used to be easy to treat healthy children with common bacterial infections; a regimen of antibiotic pills could usually wipe out the disease. Today, patients might need to go home on intravenous antibiotics because oral therapies will no longer work. Antibiotic resistance is to blame.
More infoA past bout of salmonella led Maine resident Danielle Wadsworth to travel to Washington, D.C. this week to argue for stronger regulations to curtail the use of antibiotics in livestock farming. She took part Wednesday in "Supermoms Against Superbugs," an initiative of the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming.
More infoDr. Cecilia Di Pentima is in Washington, D.C., for “Supermoms against Superbugs” to push for laws to curtail the use of antibiotics in livestock farming — one of many fronts in the battle to preserve the effectiveness of the medicines. Family physicians in the South, including Tennessee, have also been identified as inadvertent purveyors of drug-resistant bacteria by prescribing too many antibiotics.
More infoEach year, tens of thousands of Americans die and hundreds of thousands are hospitalized because of bacterial infections resistant to antibiotics. Antibiotic overuse on industrial farms is a big part of the problem. The largest U.S. meat and poultry producers feed antibiotics to healthy animals over much of their lives to make them grow faster and to compensate for the overcrowded and unsanitary conditions in which they are bred and slaughtered.
More infoOn behalf of the undersigned organizations representing medical, public health, scientific, agricultural, environmental, animal protection, and other organizations, we urge you to include H.R. 820, the Delivering Antimicrobial Transparency in Animals (DATA) Act, as part of the final Animal Drug User Fee Act (ADUFA). This legislation provides a reasonable, common-sense approach to better understanding antibiotic use in agriculture.
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