[Pharmwaste] FW: Health Care Sector Gathering Support forLegislation

Wed Jan 13 16:03:11 EST 2010

Thanks for the heads up, still looking for a ref from the past year. 

Stevan Gressitt, M.D., Medical Director

Office of Adult Mental Health Services

Department of Health and Human Services

Marquardt Building, 2nd Floor

11 State House Station

32 Blossom Lane

Augusta, ME  04333-0011

Ph: (207)287-4273

Fax: (207)287-1022

Cell Phone: (207) 441-0291

E-Mail : stevan.gressitt at maine.gov

http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/mh/

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From: pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us
[mailto:pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us] On Behalf Of Gilliam,
Allen
Sent: Monday, January 11, 2010 9:37 AM
To: pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us;
pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us
Subject: [Pharmwaste] FW: Health Care Sector Gathering Support
forLegislation

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. 

************************************

-----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, 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
Eileen Secrest, 540.479-0168; 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 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. 

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.

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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