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<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=957332714-11012010>sorry for any cross posting and
fyi,</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=957332714-11012010></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN class=957332714-11012010>allen
g</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=957332714-11012010></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN class=957332714-11012010>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. </SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=957332714-11012010>************************************</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=957332714-11012010></SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2><SPAN class=957332714-11012010></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma
size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> Practice Greenhealth
Announcements Listserve [mailto:h2e-announcements@email.sparklist.com]
<BR><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, January 07, 2010 4:15 PM<BR><B>To:</B> Gilliam,
Allen<BR><B>Subject:</B> Health Care Sector Gathering Support for
Legislation<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>Practice Greenhealth Announcements Listserv
<P>Dear PGH Supporters: </P>
<P>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, <A
href="http://www.protectantibiotics.org">www.protectantibiotics.org</A>, 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.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>Thank you very much.</P>
<P>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:<BR>January 7, 2010 </P>
<P>Contact:<BR>Jamie Harvie, 218.525.7806; <A
href="mailto:harvie@isfusa.org">harvie@isfusa.org</A><BR>Eileen Secrest,
540.479-0168; <A href="mailto:esecrest@hcwh.org">esecrest@hcwh.org</A></P>
<P><B>Health Care Sector Supports Curb on Use of Human Antibiotics in Food
Animals<BR></B>Health Care Without Harm Petition Supports Antibiotics
Legislation </P>
<P>(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, <A
href="http://www.protectantibiotics.org/">www.protectantibiotics.org</A>, to
centralize health care support for the legislation. </P>
<P>"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."</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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." </P>
<P>"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."</P>
<P>The petition is available on the HCWH website at <A
href="http://www.protectantibiotics.org/">www.protectantibiotics.org</A> . 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 <A
href="mailto:harvie@isfusa.org">harvie@isfusa.org</A> or 218-525-7806.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<HR>
<P>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 <A href="http://www.noharm.org">www.noharm.org</A>.
</P>
<P>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.
<EM>To learn more about HCWH's work on food and other issues related to health
care, visit </EM><EM><A
href="http://www.healthyfoodinhealthcare.org">www.healthyfoodinhealthcare.org</A></EM>.</P>
<P><A
href="http://noharm.org/lib/downloads/food/HCWH_Policy_Antibiotics_Food.pdf">Policy
Statement on Antibiotics in Food</A> (pdf) <A
href="http://noharm.org/lib/downloads/food/HCWH_Policy_Antibiotics_Food.pdf">http://noharm.org/lib/downloads/food/HCWH_Policy_Antibiotics_Food.pdf
</A></P>
<P><A
href="http://noharm.org/lib/downloads/food/Antibiotic_Resistance.pdf">Antibiotic
Resistance Factsheet</A> (pdf) <A
href="http://noharm.org/lib/downloads/food/Antibiotic_Resistance.pdf">http://noharm.org/lib/downloads/food/Antibiotic_Resistance.pdf
</A></P>
<P><A
href="http://www.noharm.org/lib/downloads/food/Antibiotics_Animals_MRSA.pdf">Antibiotics,
Animal Agriculture and MRSA</A> (pdf)</P>
<P><A
href="http://www.noharm.org/lib/downloads/food/Antibiotics_Animals_MRSA.pdf">http://www.noharm.org/lib/downloads/food/Antibiotics_Animals_MRSA.pdf
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