Many public health officials and medical organizations are increasingly concerned about the rising incidence of antibiotic-resistant infections in the United States. According to the Interagency Task Force on Antimicrobial Resistance (co-chaired by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and National Institutes of Health), unless antibiotic resistance ―problems are detected as they emerge—and actions are taken quickly to contain them—the world may soon be faced with previously treatable diseases that have again become untreatable, as in the pre-antibiotic era.1
Children, seniors, pregnant women, cancer patients and other vulnerable populations are at greater risk of contracting infections that are becoming less and less responsive to vital antibiotics. Patients in hospitals and residents in nursing-home facilities are particularly susceptible to infection, as they often have weakened immune systems and high exposure to contagions that may originate in health care settings, or in the general community.
One of the key factors contributing to this dramatic increase in antibiotic resistance is the routine, non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in food animal production—not because the animals are sick, but to promote growth and to compensate for the effects of overcrowded and unsanitary conditions. This practice puts human health at risk, because it can breed dangerous strains of bacteria that are antibiotic resistant, and some of them can spread to humans. Last year the FDA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the CDC testified before Congress that there was a definitive link between the non-therapeutic uses of antibiotics on industrial farms and the crisis of antibiotic resistance in humans.2
Resistant bacterial infections are harder to treat and require multiple applications of antibiotics, longer hospital stays, and possibly other interventions. Researchers with the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics and Cook County Hospital in Chicago estimate the extra costs to the U.S. health care system due to antibiotic-resistant infections range from $16.6 billion to $26 billion per year.3 Health experts recommend that all inappropriate uses of antibiotics be curtailed, including the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in food animal production, in order to stem the rising tide of resistant infections, and to reduce health care costs.
To help address the public health care crisis of antibiotic resistance, protect patients and communities and lower health care costs, Congress should pass legislation to phase out the use of these life-saving drugs on industrial farms unless animals are sick or directly exposed to disease.
1 Interagency Task Force on Antimicrobial Resistance, A Public Health Action Plan to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance.
2 Hearing: Antibiotic Resistance and the Use of Antibiotics in Animal Agriculture, Subcommittee on Health, Energy and Commerce Committee, US. House of Representatives, July 12, 2010.
3 Roberts, R.R., et al. 2009. Hospital and Societal Costs of Antimicrobial-Resistant Infections in a Chicago Teaching Hospital: Implications for Antibiotic Stewardship. Clinical Infectious Diseases 49:1175–84.
4 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS), NARMS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about Antibiotic Resistance— Which antibiotics used in food-producing animals are related to antibiotics used in humans? (Atlanta: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2005, accessed July 15, 2010).
5 U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2010. 2009 Summary Report on Antimicrobials Sold or Distributed for Use in Food-Producing Animals. The total listed in this document is 28.7 million pounds, but 8.2 million pounds of the drugs listed are ionophores and are not used in human medicine.
6 FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), October, 2008. ―Foodborne Illness-Causing Organisms in the U.S.‖ Available at: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/ff15bugs.html.
7 Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). 2004. Bad Bugs, No Drugs: As Antibiotic Discovery Stagnates…a Public Health Crisis Brews.
8 WebMD, ―Understanding MRSA.
9 Ibid.
10 http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/c-difficile/ds00736
11 United States General Accounting Office, Antibiotic Resistance: Federal Agencies Need to Better Focus Efforts to Address Risk to Humans from Antibiotic Use in Animals (Washington, DC: General Accounting Office, 2004). See also: David G. White, et al., ―The Isolation of Antibiotic-Resistant Salmonella from Retail Ground Meats,‖ New England Journal of Medicine 345, no. 16 (2001): 1147-1154; Kare Molbak et al.., ―An Outbreak of Multidrug-Resistant, Quinolone-Resistant Salmonella Enterica Serotype Typhimurium DT104,‖ New England Journal of Medicine 341, no. 19 (1999): 1420-1425; and James R. Johnson et al., ― Similarity between Human and Chicken Escherichia coli Isolates in Relation to Ciprofloxacin Resistance Status,‖ Journal of Infectious Diseases 194, no. 1 (2006): 71-78.
12 Ibid. See also: Joanne C. Chee-Sanford et al., ―Occurrence and Diversity of Tetracycline Resistance Genes in Lagoons and Groundwater Underlying Tow Swing Production Facilities, Applied and Environmental Microbiology 67, no. 4 (2001): 1494–1502; Amy R. Sapotka et al., ―Antibiotic-Resistant Enterococci and Fecal Indicators in Surface Water and Groundwater Impacted by a Concentrated Swine Feeding Operation,‖ Environmental Health Perspectives 115, no. 7 (2001): 1041–1045; and Shawn G. Gibbs et al., ―Isolation of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria from the Air Plume Downwind of a Swine Confined or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation,‖ Environmental Health Perspectives 114, no. 7 (2005): 1032–1037.
13 Ana M. Rule, S. L. Evans, and E. K. Silbergeld, ―Food Animal Transport: A Potential Source of Community Exposures to Health Hazards from Industrial Farming,‖ Journal of Infection and Public Health 1 (2008): 33–39.
14 M. E. Anderson and M. D. Sobsey, ―Detection and Occurrence of Antimicrobially Resistant E. coli in Groundwater on or Near Swine Farms in Eastern North Carolina,‖ Water Science and Technology 54, no 3: 211–218.
15 Amy R. Sapotka et al., ―Antibiotic-Resistant Enterococci and Fecal Indicators in Surface Water and Groundwater Impacted by a Concentrated Swine Feeding Operation,‖ Environmental Health Perspectives 115, no. 7 (2001): 1041–1045.
16 ―Endorsements of the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act, revised June 14, 2006, at. See also ―Keep Antibiotics Working Urges FDA Acting Commissioner to Take Strong, Quick Action to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance Crisis,‖ April 3, 2009.
17 ACPM, January 23, 2002, ―Principles for Combating Antibiotic Resistance,‖ Policy Resolution # 05-02(A).
18 AMA, 2001, ―Antimicrobial Use and Resistance,‖ Resolution 508.
19 APHA, January 1, 1999, ―Addressing the Problem of Bacterial Resistance to Antimicrobial Agents and the Need for Surveillance,‖ Policy No. 9908.
20 CSTE/NASPHV, 1999, ―Discontinuation of antimicrobials used to promote growth of food animals if they are used in or select for cross resistance to antimicrobials used in human therapy,‖ Position Statement 1999-ID 7.
21 IDSA PAMTA endorsement letter to Sen. Kennedy, June 12, 2007.
22 WHO, 2000, WHO Global Principles for the Containment of Antimicrobial Resistance in Animals Intended for Food, Geneva.
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 infoCopyright(c) 1996-2012 The Pew Charitable Trusts. All Rights Reserved.
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