FDA still giving drugs to cattle

[Guest guest]

FDA POSED TO APPROVE CATTLE DRUG RISKY TO HUMANS

 

Despite warnings from its own advisory board and a dozen health groups,

including the American Medical Association, the Food and Drug Administration

(FDA)

is set to approve an antibiotic for cattle this spring that could have

dangerous consequences for people. The drug, cefquinome, is from a class of

powerful

antibiotics that are among the few means of treating several serious human

infections. This class of antibiotics also includes one drug that is the only

effective treatment for cancer patients with serious infections. The FDA was

warned that using cefquinome for animals will probably cause bacteria to develop

resistance to these antibiotics more quickly, as has happened in Europe. This

has also been the case with other antibiotics. The resistant bacteria could

subsequently infect people.

 

InterVet Inc. developed cefquinome for respiratory disease in cattle. The

FDA's advisors voted to deny the company's request for approval to market

it as

such after learning that a dozen other effective medicines are already

available to treat the disease. " The panel also learned that the disease would

be a

relatively minor issue but for the stressful conditions under which U.S.

cattle are raised, including high-density living spaces and routine shipment on

crowded trains for hundreds or thousands of miles, " reports the Washington

Post.

It continued: " Those 'production dynamics' suppress the animals'

immune

systems, explained feedlot consultant Kelly Lechtenberg of Oakland, Neb., and

virtually guarantee that bovine respiratory disease will be a major problem. "

The

FDA's approval of the drug is almost required due to a " guidance document "

that sets policy for determining the risk that proposed new animal drugs pose to

human health. The article explains in detail " how a few words in an obscure

regulatory document can sway the government's approach to protecting public

health. "

 

" The Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act " has been

introduced in both the U.S. House and Senate. Among several measures the bill

seeks

is

to phase out the non-therapeutic use of medically important antibiotics in

farmed animals unless the manufacturers can show they pose no danger to public

health. It would also require manufacturers to report the amounts of

antibiotics they supply for use in animals, the animals to whom the drugs are

given,

and

the uses for which they are supplied.

 

FDA RULES OVERRIDE WARNINGS ABOUT DRUG

The Washington Post, Rick Weiss, March 4, 2007

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/03/AR200703030131

1.html

 

BILL WOULD CURB USE OF ANTIBIOTICS IN LIVESTOCK

BEEF Cow-Calf Weekly, P. Scott Shearer, Feb. 23, 2007

http://tinyurl.com/37bkfx

 

 

I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to

tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of war, corporations have been

enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money

power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the

prejudices of the people until all the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and

the republic is destroyed. I feel, at this moment, more anxiety for the safety

of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war. God grant that my

suspicions may prove groundless. " Lincoln in a letter to Col. William F. Elkins

on November 21, 1864