Feeding antibiotics to livestock is a double-edged sword - animals grow faster, but develop drug-resistant infections passed on to people. And the ongoing overuse has led to infections that killed more than 65,000 people in the US last year, theAssociated Press reports. And 70 percent of the 35 million pounds of antibiotics used last year went to pigs, chickens and cows. Worldwide, it's 50 percent. "This is a living breathing problem, it's the big bad wolf and it's knocking at our door," Vance Fowler, an infectious disease specialist at Duke University, tells the AP. "It's here. It's arrived."
America's farmers give livestock about 8 percent more antibiotics each year, usually to heal lung, skin or blood infections. But 13 percent of antibiotics administered on farms in 2008 were fed to healthy animals to make them grow faster, the AP writes, adding that antibiotics save up to 30 percent in feed costs among young swine, but savings fade as pigs get older, according to a new USDA study.
Meanwhile, the AP continues, more than 20 percent of all human cases of a deadly drug-resistant staph infection in the Netherlands could be traced to an animal strain, according to a study published online in a CDC journal. The news service adds that US food safety studies routinely find drug resistant bacteria in beef, chicken and pork sold in supermarkets, and 20 percent of people who get salmonella have a drug resistant strain, according to the CDC.
In response, pressure against antibiotic use in agriculture is rising, the AP notes. The World Health Organization concluded that antibiotic resistance is a leading threat to human health, and the White House said the problem is "urgent." One congresswoman proposed a bill to ban farmers from feeding antibiotics to their animals unless they are sick. New rules are being discussed in regulatory agencies. The European Union and other developed countries have adopted strong limits.
But drugmakers are battling back and spent $135 million lobbying last year, and agribusiness companies another $70 million, on a handful of issues including fighting the proposed new limits. Opponents from farm states say a ban is misguided.
"Chaos will ensue," Kansas Republican Congressman Jerry Moran tells the AP. "The cultivation of crops and the production of food animals is an immensely complex endeavor involving a vast range of processes. We raise a multitude of crops and livestock in numerous regions, using various production methods. Imagine if the government is allowed to dictate how all of that is done."
He's backed by the American Farm Bureau, the National Pork Producers Council, Eli Lilly, Bayer, Pfizer, Schering-Plough, Dow AgroSciences and Monsanto, which have repeatedly defeated similar legislation, according to the AP.
The FDA says without new laws its options are limited, the AP continues, noting the agency approved antibiotic use in animals in 1951, before concerns about drug resistance were recognized. But, the report points out, the only way to withdraw that approval is through a drug-by-drug process that can take years of study, review and comment.
Piggy thx to Brent & MariLynn Flickr creative commons
10 Comments
ridiculous. we will be the death of us.
Pigs sure have been getting the short end of the stick lately, with swine flu and all.
Thanks for the posting. the most startling part of your post was this "20 percent of all human cases of a deadly drug-resistant staph infection in the Netherlands could be traced to an animal strain."
I am sure I am understating but isn't there a testing method for these drugs that are used on healthy animals?
Thank you for posting this Ed.
Over time, ABX use can negatively impact immune function...
that being said, the post will be helpful because it is written in layman's terms, so it can be given to and (hopefully) understood by the insurance company/PBM doctors, pharmacists and'others' who dispute and deny ABX and/or high enough doses of the the types of ABX to successfully treat human bacterial infections by claiming that ABX are overused...I guess maybe they are partially right...or maybe they all have dyslexia and/or otherwise cannot fully comprehend that the WHO info involves animals like pigs.
Has anyone looked into the effect of this after 2 years?
DRUG DELIVERY and FORMULATIONS Lab-Scale Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Characterization and Functionality of Magnesium Stearate Derived from Bovine and Vegetable Sources http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/CentersOffices/CDER/ucm142591.htm "The impact of this change on product quality and manufacturability is not known." (a must read) The original date of this report was September 2007, if I remember correctly.
Yeah yeah, mad cow disease, I've heard it all before. Not before I heard of a bidding war over this ingredient. I just want to know if anyone followed up on the efficacy of the many products that have been changed to contain it. If these antibiotics contain Magnesium Stearate at all. Is there a study or are we just assuming it all worked out fine? Anyone?
My question isn't as random as it appears. It pertains to our food supply as well as our drug supply. Are more antibiotics needed because of a change in product?
Here’s a recent AP article from CBS News website that relates to this topic:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/12/31/health/main6042854.shtml?tag=cbsnewsLeadStoriesAreaMain;cbsnewsLeadStoriesPrimary
OSLO, Norway, Dec. 31, 2009 Killer Superbugs Beaten With Drug Control Norway Finds That Severe Cuts to Use of Antibiotics Helped Country Avoid Suffering From Deadly Mutated Diseases
Common sense tells me that resistance of pathogens to human medicine is due to excess use in humans. The resistance in animals would be due to the same process. The pathogens that cause disease in each species are basicly different. There are very few zoonotic diseases; otherwise, animal caretakers would all be DEAD! We are alive with essentially no animal disease related deaths.
"Common sense is that which tells us the world is flat." - Stuart Chase
Perhaps Stuart Chase should have owned a hog farm and went on a vacation to the high seas where he could have observed that on all approaching ships the mast is the first in view. Thus through common sense proving that the surface is NOT flat. "All we know comes from experience! Agriculture is the greatest drug of all; we have an addiction for our work"! A quote from Terry Bradshaw at the recent Farm Bureau Convention. As long a facts prevail all will be well.