Congress is considering a bill that would phase out non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in farm animals. S.B. 619 was introduced by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA). Its counterpart in the U.S. House of Representatives, H.R. 1549 was introduced by Rep. Louise McIntosh Slaughter (D-NY)

Antibiotics such as penicillin, tetracycline, macrolide, lincosamide, streptogramin, aminoglycoside, or sulfonamide, are fed to animals held in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions on factory farms. The antibiotics make it possible to raise animals in such deplorable conditions and prevent the spread of some disease. These antibiotics not only support factory farming, but also their widespread use has undermined their effectiveness in humans. 

The bill would amend the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, 21 U.S.C. 360b, and phase out non-therapeutic use of these antibiotics in agriculture including any others in the same chemical class. 

It is noted in the bill that there are a number of studies warning that antibiotic resistance is a threat to public health.  "[A]ny overuse or misuse of antibiotics contributes to the spread of antibiotic resistance, whether in human medicine or in agriculture". (Jan. 2001 federal interagency task force report)

"[I]n a March 2003 report, the National Academy of Sciences stated that...substantial efforts must be made to decrease inappropriate overuse in animals". Approximately 70% of "the antibiotics and other antimicrobial drugs used in the United States are fed to farm animals for nontherapeutic purposes, including... growth promotion; and ... compensation for crowded, unsanitary, and stressful farming and transportation conditions; and... unlike human use of antibiotics, these nontherapeutic uses in animals typically do not require a prescription".

"[L]arge-scale, voluntary surveys by the Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in 1999, 2001, and 2006 revealed that 84 percent of grower-finisher swine farms, 83 percent of cattle feedlots, and 84 percent of sheep farms administer antimicrobials in the feed or water for health or growth promotion reasons, and many of the antimicrobials identified are identical or closely related to drugs used in human medicine, including tetracyclines, macrolides, Bacitracin, penicillins, and sulfonamides; and ...these drugs are used in people to treat serious diseases such as pneumonia, scarlet fever, rheumatic fever, venereal disease, skin infections, and even pandemics like malaria and plague, as well as bioterrorism agents like smallpox and anthrax". "[M]any scientific studies confirm that the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in agricultural animals contributes to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections in people".

A "United States Geological Survey reported in March 2002 that... antibiotics were present in 48 percent of the streams tested nationwide; and ... almost half of the tested streams were downstream from agricultural operations".

As long ago as April 1999 the General Accounting Office concluded that resistant strains of 3 microorganisms that cause food-borne illness or disease in humans--Salmonella, Campylobacter, and E. coli--are linked to the use of antibiotics in animals.

In "October 2001, the New England Journal of Medicine published an editorial urging a ban on nontherapeutic use of medically important antibiotics in animals".  Other studies have called for a ban as well. Moreover, "the American Medical Association, the American Public Health Association, the National Association of County and City Health Officials, and the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture are among the more than 300 organizations representing health, consumer, agricultural, environmental, humane, and other interests that have supported enactment of legislation to phase out nontherapeutic use in farm animals of medically important antibiotics".

For more on the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in farm animals.....

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Find your U.S. senators here and find your U.S. representative here and write or call and urge them to support an end to non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in farm animals by voting yes on S.B. 619/H.R. 1549. Tell your senators and representative America's health depends on it.