Public Health Still Threatened as Toothless FDA Antibiotic Plan Slammed

[unhappycamper]

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/12/12-4



"While we believe any action is better than nothing, the FDA’s tepid response to this public health crisis is a missed opportunity to keep the American public safe," said Heather White of EWG.

Public Health Still Threatened as Toothless FDA Antibiotic Plan Slammed
- Andrea Germanos, staff writer
Published on Thursday, December 12, 2013 by Common Dreams

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's newly unveiled "voluntary plan with industry" to curb the use of antibiotics in livestock does too little, too late to address the public health crisis posed by antibiotic-resistant bacteria, critics charge.

In the U.S., 80 percent of all antibiotics are used on food animals in an effort to make then grow faster and resist disease. Yet food safety advocates and health professionals as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have warned that this has contributed to the rise in antibiotic-resistant 'superbugs.' "A post-antibiotic era means, in effect, an end to modern medicine as we know it," the World Health Organization has warned.

To address this growing threat, the FDA announced that it "is working to address the use of 'medically important' antibiotics in food-producing animals for production uses" so that they will "only be used in food-producing animals to treat, prevent or control disease under the order of or by prescription from a licensed veterinarian."

But as watchdog groups such as Environmental Working Group (EWG) and Food and Water Watch highlight, there are two main problems with the FDA plan: first, the fact that it is voluntary means livestock producers can simply ignore it; and second, livestock producers can say the antibiotics are being used for "disease prevention" instead of "growth promotion," causing no change other than one of semantics.

[stuntcat]

1. "In the U.S., 80 percent of all antibiotics are used on food animals"

k&r