FDA Fails to Protect Against Antibiotic Resistance, Guarantees More Needless Death and Suffering

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria infect two million Americans every year, causing at least 23,000 deaths. Nearly 25 million pounds of antibiotics are administered to US livestock every year for purposes other than treating disease, such as making the animals grow bigger faster. The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) ruled that antibiotic resistance is a major threat to public health worldwide, and the primary cause for this man-made epidemic is the widespread misuse of antibiotics. Denmark stopped the widespread use of antibiotics in their pork industry 14 years ago. The European Union has also banned the routine use of antibiotics in animal feed over concerns of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. What’s standing in the way of curbing antibiotic use in the U.S.? In a word, industry. For instance, the American Pork Industry doesn’t want to curb antibiotic use, as this would mean raising the cost of producing pork by an estimated $5 for every 100 pounds of pork brought to market. The pharmaceutical industry is obviously against it as well.

Antibiotic Resistant Diseases? Blame the FDA and Their Protection of Big Pharma in Animal Feeds

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has known for more than 12 years that routine use of antibiotics in livestock is harmful to human health, yet it has taken no meaningful action. Routine use of antibiotics in food animals has promoted a rapid rise in antibiotic-resistant disease, which now claims more lives than emphysema, HIV/AIDS, Parkinson’s disease, and homicide combined. Two million American adults and children become infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria each year, and at least 23,000 of them die as a direct result of those infections. Virtually all animal feed additives containing penicillin and tetracycline antibiotics—both of which are used to treat human disease—pose a “high risk” to human health, according to a new report. Many bacteria are developing cross resistance; a situation where a bacteria becomes resistant to multiple drugs, making them virtually impossible to eradicate once they infect you.

Antibiotics in Animal Feed Pose a Serious Risk to Human Health

In the US, animals raised in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are also continuously given low-dose antibiotics in their feed because it makes the animals get bigger faster. In other parts of the world, such as the European Union, the use of antibiotics as growth promoters in animal feed has been banned for years. Routine antibiotic use in animal food production is likely worsening the epidemic of antibiotic-resistant disease. A recent study showed industrial pig workers were found to be carrying pig MRSA, a type of antibiotic-resistant bacteria -- and that farmers at pig farms that use antibiotics are more likely to contract MRSA from the pigs than workers at antibiotic-free farms.