Meat + Poultry - May 2005 - 62

For the Record

Straight talk about antibiotic use in food-animal production

May 2005

THE BEST PLACE TO END HUMAN-ANTIBIOTIC FAILURES
IS NOT THE MEATCASE. THE TARGET IS MUCH MORE OBVIOUS
Misguided members of Congress are again pushing to outlaw the safe practice of using antibiotics on
farms. Yet they continue to give little more than lip service to ﬁxing human-antibiotic failures at the point
which almost everyone agrees the problem arises: the doctor's ofﬁce.

ven those who ascribe to the theory - and it remains
only theory - that farm antibiotics

contribute to human-antibiotic failures

from solved. Broad-spectrum antibiotics, for example,

HUMAN ANTIBIOTIC OVER-USE

are still overused: During the '90s,
prescriptions calling for such anti-

concede it's only a small part of the

biotics increased from 23 to 40

cause. Legislation just reintroduced into

percent in children and from 24

Congress in April ignores the over-

to 48 percent in adults. The studies

whelming contribution made by

suggest doctors may simply be

the abuse of human antibiotics at the

swapping older, narrow-spectrum

doctor's ofﬁce. For instance:
■ Pound for pound, humans use about
10 times the tonnage of antibiotics that

antibiotics for newer, more expensive,
The CDC estimates 40 percent
of human antibiotics may be
prescribed unnecessarily.

farm animals do - much of that

broad-spectrum ones. That means
they're now using the antibiotics of
last resort ﬁrst and in the process

unnecessarily. A 1995 Centers for Disease Control and

beginning to cause those to fail.

Prevention estimate predicted 40 percent of all prescriptions

■ The World Health Organization - despite its support

U.S. doctors wrote were unnecessary. A Journal of the

for limiting farm antibiotic use - suggests the real

American Medical Association study reported that in one year

priorities in reducing human-antibiotic resistance should

doctors wrote 12 million antibiotic prescriptions for colds,

include:

bronchitis and other respiratory infections - 90 percent
of which are caused by viruses and thus don't respond to
antibiotics. Both the World Health Organization and the
American Medical Association recognize such overprescribing
and other misuse by humans is nearly the universal cause
of today's increase in drug failures.
■ Some more recent studies show that kind of overprescribing in humans, which encourages disease-causing

* Poverty, which leads the poor to misuse antibiotics
* Misdiagnosis and "defensive" prescribing
* Counterfeited drugs
* Misguided demand for antibiotics where they're
not needed

* Under-education about how to use antibiotics
to prevent resistance

Progress made
Despite its minor, theoretical
role in human-antibiotic
failures, the food industry has
made voluntary strides to
address potential problems:
■ The American Veterinary
Medical Association, other
vet organizations and the FDA
developed a comprehensive
set of voluntary "prudent use
guidelines." Veterinarians and
producer groups have
regularly targeted farmers
with the wise-use message;
the most recent manifestation, the Pork Board's "Take
Care. Use Antibiotics
Responsibly" campaign
introduced in February.
■ The FDA has introduced
new requirements that will
make science-based
assessment of the risk that an
animal drug will contribute to
resistance a part of all
approvals animal-drug
sponsors must submit.

.USDA also has initiated a
■
program to track antibioticresistant bacteria on raw meat.

Fo j
.
Record

* Filthy hospitals, where resistant germs are

bacteria to develop resistance against antibiotics,

routinely spread by workers who don't wash

may be on the decline. However, the problem is far

their hands

For the Record: Some straight talk about antibiotic use
- in food production.
Antibiotics prevent animal disease and improve meat, milk and egg production.
Protecting the ability to use these important, safe and proven tools remains absolutely
necessary to meet the world's growing demand for affordable protein. ALPHARMA
Inc. Animal Health sponsors this educational series to provide you facts to help set
the record straight.
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Meat + Poultry - May 2005

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