Limit antibiotics in livestock

Fort Wayne Journal Gazette | Editorial staff | July 24, 2009

Last week, the characteristically laissez-faire U.S. Food and Drug Administration called for limiting the use of antibiotics in the animal agricultural industry. The decision should flag the attention of Indiana officials and farmers.

The FDA’s recommendation to end the routine overuse of antibiotics in animal production came during congressional hearings for proposed legislation that restricts use of seven classes of antibiotics.

Those antibiotics are crucial to human health and should not be used on industrial livestock farms unless the animals or the herd are diagnosed with a disease.

The Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act limits antibiotic use in livestock to address concerns for humans building resistance to antibiotics.

“Seventy percent of the antibiotics used in animal production are used non-therapeutically to compensate for poor animal husbandry,” Bob Martin, with the Pew Environmental Group, said in testimony at the congressional hearings.

Farmers are routinely using low doses of antibiotics not to treat microbial disease, but to compensate for animal crowding and inadequate waste management at livestock operations.

He said it’s the first time the FDA has confirmed the link between antibiotic use in animals and the drug resistance that threatens the human population.

Currently, antimicrobials are readily available to farmers without consultation from any veterinary professional. Farmers can pick up 100-pound feedbags with antibiotics mixed in at the feed store. Farmers use antibiotics in food and water to make the animals grow fatter more quickly and to prevent disease in animals living in crowded conditions.

The issue is of special interest to Hoosiers because the agricultural industry plays such an important role Indiana’s economic well-being. But guarding against unnecessary use of antibiotics in animal production to prevent drug resistance in humans is more important.

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