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| For Immediate Release:
April 20, 2001 |
Contact: Sean Crowley
202-478-6128 |
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Bayer Sends Contradictory Message to Consumers
(WASHINGTON, DC) - Although Bayer AG, the parent company of Bayer Corporation, recently launched an initiative to discourage the misuse of antibiotics in human medicine ("Libra Initiative," www.librainitiative.com), the company continues to fight a proposed ban by the Food and Drug Administration on an antibiotic Bayer produces for use in poultry, which could have serious effects on human health. The Bayer antibiotic, Baytril®, belongs to a valuable class of human antibiotics called fluoroquinolones. Fluoroquinolones are the drugs of choice to treat certain types of severe food-borne illnesses and a variety of other infections in humans. FDA has determined that continued use of Baytril® in poultry will lead to the drug’s decreasing effectiveness in people. Bayer’s refusal to stop selling Baytril® for use in poultry is in direct contradiction to the goals of its LIBRA initiative-to combat the growing public health threat of antibiotic resistance. Health, consumer and other public interest groups asked Bayer to withdraw Baytril® earlier this year. They now repeat their call for Bayer to put public health before corporation profits. "While Bayer’s new initiative on the use of antibiotics in human medicine is laudable, the company’s refusal to stop selling Baytril® for use in poultry in the U.S. is deplorable. Bayer asserts that inappropriate use of antibiotics in people is contributing to the growing public health threat of antibiotic resistance but refuses to acknowledge that it is contributing to this problem by continuing to sell Baytril® for use in poultry. If Bayer is so concerned about antibiotic resistance, why doesn’t the company immediately comply with FDA’s proposed ban on Baytril® in poultry?" said Tamar Barlam, MD, an infectious disease physician and scientist with the Center for Science in the Public Interest. The only other producer of fluoroquinolones for poultry use, Abbott Laboratories, has already agreed to take its product off the market. Bayer, on the other hand, has challenged the FDA’s proposed action. In November, Bayer requested that FDA hold a formal hearing process on the proposed ban. The hearing process could take years, by which point fluoroquinolones could lose their effectiveness entirely for food-borne illness. Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria are exposed to antibiotics for too short a period or at doses too low to kill the stronger strains. These bacteria then live to pass on their resistance to successive generations, creating, in effect, a strain of "superbugs." When humans are infected with superbugs through contaminated poultry, the infection can become life threatening, as the superbugs are not affected by antibiotics. For most people, food poisoning causes mild to moderate diarrhea, fever, vomiting and cramping. For those with more severe cases, and those more vulnerable to bacterial infections-children, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems-antibiotics may be required. Severe cases of bacterial infection can be fatal, especially if the strain of bacteria causing the illness is resistant to antibiotics. Campylobacter is the most common cause of food-borne bacterial illness in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that Campylobacter accounts for nearly 2 million illnesses and 100 deaths each year, and Salmonella accounts for 1.3 million illnesses and about 500 deaths annually. Together, Campylobacter and Salmonella account for 80 percent of the total reported cases of bacteria-caused food-borne illnesses in the United States. Campylobacter and Salmonella bacteria do not cause illness in poultry and are normally present in their intestines. The organizations calling for Bayer to withdraw Baytril® include: Center for Science in the Public Interest, DelMarVa Poultry Justice Alliance, Environmental Defense, Food Animal Concerns Trust, Global Resource Action Center for the Environment, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Union of Concerned Scientists and The Humane Society of the United States.### |