Washington, D.C. - The government is coming under new pressure to curb the use of antibiotics on livestock farms because of concerns the drugs are losing their effectiveness in people.
The American Academy of Pediatrics and three other organizations petitioned the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday to ban seven types of antibiotics from being fed to hogs, cattle and chickens for promoting growth or preventing disease.
The groups say the drugs should only be used to treat animals that are actually sick.
Scientists and federal regulators fear bacteria are developing resistance to some human antibiotics, partly because of their widespread use in food animals.
"The use and overuse of antibiotics drives bacteria to become resistant to them," said Georg es Benj amin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, one of the groups filing the petition. "While overuse in hospitals is part of the problem, it's by no means the only issue."
The other groups behind the petition are Environmental Defense and the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Antibiotics are added to feed in varying amounts to make animals put on weight faster or to guard against infections that can spread through barns.
Farm groups argue that the antibiotic resistance problem is due to their overuse in people, not animals.
Several lawmakers, including Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., also are introducing legislation to restrict use of the animal drugs.
The groups said the ban was justified by new guidelines the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine issued in 2003 for evaluating the safety of animal drugs.
Based on the guidelines, the FDA last year raised questions about the safety of several penicillin products that are used for promoting growth. The agency is reviewing the use of tetracyclines as growth-promoters, according to information the FDA provided to Kennedy earlier this week.
The Government Accountability Office last year urged the FDA to speed its analysis of the antibiotics - the agency's effort to prohibit the use of one antibiotic in chickens has been going on for several years.
The accountability office also said the government should start collecting data on the antibiotic use in livestock.
The National Pork Board recently issued a manual for farmers recommending ways they can decrease their use of antibiotics.
"The basic message is: Do everything you can to optimize management so you don't need to use as many antibiotics," said Liz Wagstrom, the board's assistant vice president for science and technology. Keeping barns at steady temperatures or separating young pigs from sows can both reduce the use of antibiotics, she said.
But restricting the use of antibiotics as the European Union has done would increase farmers' cost and lead to more animals getting sick and dying, she said.
Member countries of the European Union are required to ban antibiotics for growth promotion by 2006. Denmark, a major pork producer, has already stopped that use.
Ron Phillips, vice president of public health for the Animal Health Institute, which represents drug makers, said there is no public health benefit to restricting the antibiotics.Des Moines Register
