[Pharmwaste] Antibiotics and Agriculture

[DeBiasi, Deborah (DEQ)]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/30/opinion/30wed3.html?th&emc=th

June 29, 2010
Antibiotics and Agriculture
The Food and Drug Administration is taking some long overdue but still
too timid steps to rein in excessive use of antibiotics in American
agriculture. For years now industrial and many smaller-scale farmers
have routinely fed antibiotics to their cattle, pigs and chickens to
protect them from infectious diseases but also to spur growth and weight
gain while using less feed. That may be good for agricultural
production, but it is almost surely bad for the public's health. 
An alarming number of human pathogens have become resistant to one or
more medicines, undermining the ability of doctors to treat patients
effectively. Experts believe the primary cause is overprescribing in
human patients, often for conditions like colds, where antibiotics are
ineffective. But overuse of antibiotics in farm animals is also thought
to be stimulating the emergence of resistant bacterial strains that can
infect humans or pass their resistance to other germs that infect
humans. 
On Monday, the F.D.A. issued a "draft guidance" on the "judicious use"
of medically important antimicrobial drugs in food-producing animals.
The document suggested that the use of such drugs should be limited to
treating or controlling infectious disease in animals or to prevent
infections before an outbreak occurs. And in all of those cases, the
drugs should be administered in consultation with a veterinarian whose
oversight would likely restrain excessive use. 
The draft guidance is a statement of principles that is open for comment
and could ultimately lead to regulatory action. Past efforts to restrict
agricultural antibiotics have had only limited success; the powerful
agricultural lobbies usually prevail over public health advocates. We
can only hope that the F.D.A. will be more successful this time. 


Deborah L. DeBiasi 
Email:   Deborah.DeBiasi at deq.virginia.gov (NEW!)
WEB site address:  www.deq.virginia.gov 
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality 
Office of Water Permit and Compliance Assistance Programs 
Industrial Pretreatment/Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) Program 
PPCPs, EDCs, and Microconstituents
www.deq.virginia.gov/vpdes/microconstituents.html 
Mail:          P.O. Box 1105, Richmond, VA  23218 
Location:  629 E. Main Street, Richmond, VA  23219 
PH:         804-698-4028 
FAX:      804-698-4032 


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