The use of antibiotics in healthy livestock has raised the significant question of whether this practice promotes antibiotic resistance and thus lessens the effectiveness of certain classes of drugs in humans. Introduced by Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY), H.R. 1549 would phase out the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in food-producing animals and would require the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to consider the potential antibiotic resistance consequences when evaluating applications for new animal uses of antibiotics.

This is agenda driven legislation because there is no scientific reasons to ban the use of anitbiotics in livestock feeding. America’s livesock producers provide the consumers world wide with the healthiest, safest, most abundant, and economical source of food. At the July hearing on this bill not one verterinarian was asked to testify. Why? We don’t want legislation based on facts but based on the anti-agriculture, anti big business agenda. This is bad legislation that takes the health and welfare of farm animal out of the hands of the farmer and into the hands of politicans. Just what we need government health care for farm animals, what is next end of life counseling for farm animals?

No, Cattleman. This is good legislation based on an abundant amount of scientific evidence. The public health issue should be of primary concern to government agencies as well as industry leaders who should be concerned with correcting and bettering the way in which meat is produced for the masses rather than profits. Changing the focus from profits to public health would eliminate the need for prophylactically administered antibiotics. Consumer ignorance, however, coupled with and continued by industry misrepresentation and misleading information as well as continued demand for and consumption of cheap meat developed in factory farms gives power to the factory farming industry in alliance with the AVMA and the pharmaceutical industry who oppose this ban.

Please stop poisoning the meat you expect us to eat. I can NOT eat the meat raised on antibiotic laced feed. I get very ill from it. This is needed! Clean farms and well cared for livestock will keep the food healthy and abundant!

Animal caretakers use antibiotics to minimize pain and suffering. Some farms use antibiotics in small amounts in feed or water to promote health and growth – an efficiency that lowers greenhouse gas emissions and decreases the amount of land needed per animal.

A similar ban was put in place in Europe 10 yrs ago. Animal death and disease increased and antibiotic usage for therapeutic use increased since the ban. Recently published literature shows resistance patterns in humans have not declined as a result.

As a scientist, I am unaware of any published scientific risk assessment that shows that the elimination of antibiotics used for animal health and growth promotion will help manage antibiotic resistance in humans. I am very concerned about the unintended consequences that can occur when policy decisions about antibiotic use, as proposed in HR 1549, are not driven by science and risk assessment.

This bill will negatively impact both animal welfare and food safety

Chipotle supports the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act!

http://www.chipotle.com/PAMTA/

On the contrary, there is an abundant amount of scientific evidence supporting a link between nontherapeutic use of antibiotics in farm animals and increased antibiotic resistance in humans. Such evidence dates back to the late 1960s when scientists “warned against the nontherapeutic use of antibiotics in farmed animal feed” (Foer, 2009, p. 140). Numerous studies conducted throughout the following two decades supported the existence of this link.

References:

Foer, J. S. (2009). Hiding/seeking. In Eating animals (pp. 90-115). New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company.

The passage of this bill is the first step, imo, toward ending factory farming and its deplorable conditions and cleaning up our food supply. The risks involved for continuing this routine practice—namely, returning to a world defenseless against microbes—is much to great.

I can no longer eat beef or eggs raised with antibiotics in their food. It makes me ill for days. My body has reached a point I rarely can tolerate any antibiotics. If it not removed from the food chain I am seriously concerned about my future health should I truely need them.

In relation with this post , have you heard that Animal antibiotic use partially banned by FDA.Many farmers have made it common practice to give animals antibiotics to ensure they are healthy, even if the animal would not otherwise be healthy. The Food and Drug Administration, however, will be limiting a few of this practice in order to keep human antibiotic resistance from growing.