HEARING ON "ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE AND THE USE OF ANTIBIOTICS IN ANIMAL AGRICULTURE''
WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 2010
House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Health Committee on Energy and Commerce, Washington, D.C.
"Mr. {Pallone.} The meeting of the Health Subcommittee is called to order, and the subcommittee is convening today for its third hearing to discuss antibiotic resistance and its threat to public health. Today we will examine the use of antibiotics in food-producing animals and the impact of this use on human health.
Antibiotics, as you all know, are among the most significant medical innovations of the 20th century. The CDC lists control over infectious disease as one of its top 10 great public health achievements of the last century, and antimicrobials are crucial to that accomplishment. And yet we must collectively be alarmed that we are undermining the power of antibiotics by failing to use them judiciously. In past hearings, we have heard testimony about physicians that are prescribed antibiotics just in case their patients have bacterial infections, and we all know patients that have stopped taking their antibiotics once they felt better, even if they didn't finish the treatment. It is clear that the consequences of such actions are severe. Manmade antimicrobial resistance weakens our options to treat pneumonia, food-related diseases including E. coli and Salmonella, and hospital-acquired infections, commonly known as MRSA."
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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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