[Pharmwaste] FW: Health Care Sector Gathering Support for Legislation

Gilliam, Allen GILLIAM at adeq.state.ar.us
Mon Jan 11 09:37:07 EST 2010


sorry for any cross posting and fyi,

allen g

Dr. Gressitt?  you'll see your "70% of annual U.S. antibiotics given to poultry, beef cattle and swine stock in their feed not to treat diagnosed disease..." mentioned again below.
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-----Original Message-----
From: Practice Greenhealth Announcements Listserve [mailto:h2e-announcements at email.sparklist.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 07, 2010 4:15 PM
To: Gilliam, Allen
Subject: Health Care Sector Gathering Support for Legislation

Practice Greenhealth Announcements Listserv

Dear PGH Supporters:

The following press release announces the opportunity for all health professionals to sign a petition supporting new antibiotics legislation that would curb the use of human antibiotics in food animals. Please use the link, www.protectantibiotics.org<http://www.protectantibiotics.org>, to sign this petition if you have not done so already, and also, please pass the opportunity along to your colleagues. It is important that we show strong health care sector support for this important and unique opportunity to enact measures to protect human health.

Also, if your hospital and/or health system is willing to supporting the legislation, please contact Jamie Harvie (contact info below) to ensure that this information is passed to the legislators.

Finally, we would appreciate it if you would pass this press release on to any newsletters, blogs or other outlets (including your own personal networks) to help us reach additional health care professionals.

Thank you very much.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
January 7, 2010

Contact:
Jamie Harvie, 218.525.7806; harvie at isfusa.org<mailto:harvie at isfusa.org>
Eileen Secrest, 540.479-0168; esecrest at hcwh.org<mailto:esecrest at hcwh.org>

Health Care Sector Supports Curb on Use of Human Antibiotics in Food Animals
Health Care Without Harm Petition Supports Antibiotics Legislation

(Washington, DC) The health care sector is registering strong support for bi-partisan legislation that would help end the use of important human antibiotics in the feed and water of animals that are not sick. Hundreds of individual health care practitioners, along with a number of hospitals and health care systems, have registered their support for the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act of 2009 (PAMTA). This bipartisan legislation, introduced in the House (HR 1549) and the Senate (S. 619), is intended to help curb the growing problem of antibiotic resistance, which costs society tens of billions of dollars annually. Health Care Without Harm, a global coalition working to make health care safer and more sustainable, has established a petition site, www.protectantibiotics.org<http://www.protectantibiotics.org/>, to centralize health care support for the legislation.

"As a practicing pediatrician, I face serious antibiotic resistance problems every day in the care of my patients. It is not only a critical medical problem, but a reason that health care costs are rising so rapidly in this country. Antibiotics are far too important to the health care in this country to misuse," stated Sean Palfrey, MD, a pediatrician at Boston Medical Center. "Yet, this is what we are doing by routinely feeding antibiotics to healthy animals."

An estimated 70 percent of antibiotics used annually in the U.S. are routinely given to poultry, beef cattle, and swine in their feed, not to treat diagnosed disease, but to promote faster growth and for routine disease prevention (i.e. to compensate for the heightened risk of infection when raising animals under confined, often unhygienic conditions). Many such feed antibiotics are identical or very nearly so to human medicines, including penicillins, tetracyclines, erythromycins and sulfa drugs. Because low levels of the drugs are used, bacteria evolve that have resistance to the drugs. These resistant bacteria can be transmitted to humans through farming of these animals, during food processing, and through improperly handled or undercooked meats. In some countries in the European Union where feed uses of antibiotics have been greatly curtailed, total agricultural use of antibiotics has dropped more than 50 percent.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 60,000 Americans annually die from antibiotic-resistant infections. The American College of Physicians estimates that $30 billion is spent on the cumulative effects of antimicrobial resistance each year (including multiple drug regimens, extra hospital days, additional medical care and lost productivity). In 2003, the U.S. Institute of Medicine/ National Academy of Science stated that "substantial efforts must be made to decrease inappropriate overuse [of antibiotics] in animals and agriculture" and that decreasing "antimicrobial use in human medicine alone will have little effect on the current [antibiotic-resistant] situation."

"Antibiotics, a fundamental tool to protect human health, are being put at risk to allow the production of animals for food in appalling, unsanitary conditions," stated Jamie Harvie, chair of the Health Care Without Harm Healthy Food Work Group. "The health care community cannot afford to waste precious dollars desperately needed to protect public health, especially when European animal production practices demonstrate that antibiotic overuse is unnecessary."

The petition is available on the HCWH website at www.protectantibiotics.org<http://www.protectantibiotics.org/> . It is open to all health care practitioners, and directs the user to fill out a simple form. Health Care Without Harm then collects these electronic 'signatures' and presents them to Members of Congress on behalf of the signer. Hospitals and hospital systems can add their name to the growing list of hospital supporters by contacting Jamie Harvie at harvie at isfusa.org<mailto:harvie at isfusa.org> or 218-525-7806.

PAMTA has been endorsed by numerous medical and public health organizations including the American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

________________________________

HCWH is an international coalition of more than 430 organizations in 52 countries, working to transform the health care industry worldwide, without compromising patient safety or care, so that it is ecologically sustainable and no longer a source of harm to public health and the environment. For more information on HCWH, see www.noharm.org<http://www.noharm.org>.

HCWH has an ambitious healthy food agenda, which includes buying fresh food locally and/or buying certified organic food; avoiding food raised with growth hormones and antibiotics; supporting local farmers and farming organizations; introducing farmers markets and on-site food box programs; reducing food waste; and establishing an overarching food policy at each health facility. More than 260 hospitals have signed the HCWH "Healthy Food in Healthcare Pledge." Signers pledge to work toward developing sustainable food systems in their facilities. To learn more about HCWH's work on food and other issues related to health care, visit www.healthyfoodinhealthcare.org<http://www.healthyfoodinhealthcare.org>.

Policy Statement on Antibiotics in Food<http://noharm.org/lib/downloads/food/HCWH_Policy_Antibiotics_Food.pdf> (pdf) http://noharm.org/lib/downloads/food/HCWH_Policy_Antibiotics_Food.pdf

Antibiotic Resistance Factsheet<http://noharm.org/lib/downloads/food/Antibiotic_Resistance.pdf> (pdf) http://noharm.org/lib/downloads/food/Antibiotic_Resistance.pdf

Antibiotics, Animal Agriculture and MRSA<http://www.noharm.org/lib/downloads/food/Antibiotics_Animals_MRSA.pdf> (pdf)

http://www.noharm.org/lib/downloads/food/Antibiotics_Animals_MRSA.pdf

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