With so many high profile food recalls in recent history, it was somewhat uprising to read that the FDA has just issued some new guidelines to the food industry actually asking them to scale down on giving antibiotics to animals.
The reason? After 50 years of continued usage, the FDA believes that the overuse of antibiotics is making the bacteria resistant, thus creating multi-drug resistant pathogens. The FDA does not have an issue with routine doses of antibiotics, but believes that frequently administering them to cause animals to eat more and gain more weight (a side effect of the medicine) is creating a problem.
How is the food industry reacting to the "suggestions" this morning? Not well. The National Pork Council issued a strong statement:
The guidance, which does not have the force of law but may be treated as such by FDA, is a move to address an increase in antibiotic-resistant illnesses in humans, which opponents of modern animal agriculture blame on the use of antibiotics in livestock and poultry production. But top scientists with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health recently told a U.S. House committee that there is no scientific study linking antibiotic use in food animal production with antibiotic resistance.
Some scientists, however, are angry at the FDA for not going far enough. The LA times has more:
Margaret Mellon of the Union of Concerned Scientists called that assertion "patently untrue. There is a mountain of studies linking the use of antibiotics in animals to the evolution of resistant pathogens that cause human disease."
Mellon chided the FDA for moving tentatively, with recommendations rather than with actions to cut down on the use of antibiotics.
"I was expecting an action plan. I was disappointed that all we have here are principles," Mellon said. "They're apparently expecting voluntary action. It's my belief that the industry's not going to act until it has to."
You can read the entire FDA statement here.
Further Reading:WebMD's article on the new guidelines.
CNN coverage
