Will new antibiotics in livestock harm people?

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Eating meat is like a Russian roulette!!

 

 

 

US Outlines Steps to Study Animal Antibiotic Risk

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USA: October 27, 2003

 

 

WASHINGTON - Worried about the threat from drug-resistant infections, U.S.

officials on Thursday outlined ways for makers of animal drugs to evaluate

whether use of new antibiotics in livestock will harm people.

 

 

 

The Food and Drug Administration, in final guidelines to the industry, said

it wants companies to provide that information as part of their applications

for approval to sell antibiotics for food-producing animals like cows and

chickens.

 

After repeated exposure to antibiotics, bacteria can mutate to resist drug

treatment. Officials are concerned that widespread use of antibiotics on the

farm may result in people acquiring tough-to-treat infections from their

food.

 

If the FDA determines that using a drug in livestock was likely to risk

human health, the agency could deny approval or impose limits on giving the

drug to animals, officials said.

 

In the new guidelines, the FDA suggested that animal-drug makers evaluate

the probability that a particular drug would prompt emergence of resistant

bacteria in animals, the likelihood that people would ingest the resistant

bacteria, and the chances that exposure would harm human health.

 

" Resistance to the antimicrobial drugs needed to treat human illnesses is a

serious public health threat, and we intend to use the best science-based

methods to prevent it, " FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan told reporters.

 

Livestock are fed with antibiotics, in many cases the same ones used to

treat people, to fight infections and to promote faster growth.

 

The Animal Health Institute, which represents Bayer, Pfizer Inc and other

animal-drug makers, welcomed the FDA plan, saying it was better than

Europe's decision to phase-out antibiotics for growth promotion.

 

The FDA's approach will allow the agency to " protect the public health from

the potential transfer of antibiotic resistant bacteria from animals to

humans. At the same time it will preserve the important benefits of using

antibiotics to protect animal health, " said Alexander Mathews, the group's

president.

 

The guidelines apply to new applications for antibiotics intended for use in

food-producing animals.

 

The agency also is reviewing the public health impact from on-farm use of

currently marketed antibiotics, officials said.

 

Consumer groups praised the plan for new antibiotics but voiced concern that

the FDA would not move quickly to protect the public from risks posed by

drugs already widely used in agriculture.

 

" There's no timetable as to when these drugs are actually going to be

addressed, " said Dr. Tamar Barlam, director of the antibiotic resistance

program at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

 

 

Story by Lisa Richwine

 

 

 

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE