Meat + Poultry - September 2005 - 79

For the Record
R ecord

Straight talk about antibiotic use in food-animal production presented by ALPHARMA Inc., Animal Health

FOOD CONSUMERS NEED A DOSE OF BALANCE
WHEN CONSIDERING THE ISSUE OF RELATIVE RISK
Any rational grocer would think it crazy to remove grapes from inventory to prevent risk
of slip and fall accidents, just as no restaurant owner would close down the bar to avoid
risk of choking incidents. Why urge such frantic precaution regarding animal antibiotics?

September 2005

The law of unintended
costs: Risk-assessment
expert Tony Cox has modeled
the expected human-health
impacts of ending the use of
one antibiotic, virginiamycin, in
animals. Continuing to use the

may use when they seek FDA's approval to market any
new drug for food animals. The process is designed to

predicts, is likely to cause 0.27

Administration in early April to immediately halt most uses

help assure consumers that the drug's use in animals will

additional human cases annually

of antibiotics to improve productivity of livestock. The

not create a risk of untreatable diseases in humans.

of Enterococcus faecium

hree activist groups and two medical associations did

drug as it's currently used, he

just that when they petitioned the Food and Drug

coalition claimed most of the antibiotics commonly used in
animal feed were too risky to be
allowed on the market any longer.
Yet, it was no change in the drugs
at issue that spurred their panic -

Unsatisﬁed with the speed at which products were

LEVEL OF TRUST
A fair amount
55%

decades. Instead, the activists
argued that the antibiotics should

A great deal
31%

now be banned because FDA last
year changed its policy to guide
drug makers in how they should
conﬁrm that their products -
current and future - pose no

Not much
11%
None
at all
3%

A 2004 Gallup poll found that almost nine in 10
Americans are confident the government can
ensure the food supply's safety.
Source: Gallup Poll News Service.

signiﬁcant risks of contributing to
the ineffectiveness of human drugs.
The change in FDA policy resulted after ﬁve years and

being taken off the market after

gramins and vancomycin -

the guidance was ﬁnalized, the

two antibiotic classes commonly

activist group Environmental

used to treat the infection.

Defense led April's petitioners

many have been used safely for

infections resistant to strepto-

In contrast, banning the

in claiming seven classes of

drug's use in animals can be

drugs in feed now no longer meet

expected to cause an

FDA's criteria for a safe drug.

additional 6,660 annual cases

Their deliberate attempt to

of human food poisoning

confuse the complex issue of risk

caused by Campylobacter
Campylobacter, as

management - apparently in

the higher bacterial loads in the

an attempt to build support for a

animals would increase the

thrice-failed blanket Congressional

risk of contamination.

ban - illustrates the use and

Source: Cox LA Jr. Rapid Risk Rating
Technique for risk-benefit assessments
of antibiotics used in food animals.
Invited presentation, ASM General
Meeting, New Orleans, La., May 2004.

misuse of what's come to be known as "the precautionary
principle." It's a political device designed and now typically

three versions' worth of testimony, public comment and

used by environmental protectionists to turn the blunt

regulatory drafting, involving input from the animal-health

instrument of government against scientiﬁc outcomes that

industry and food activists. Not a regulation with force of

don't support their cause. This government by the frantic,

law, the guidance is instead an explanation of FDA's "way

of the frantic and for the frantic ignores the beneﬁts of

of thinking" about how a drug's safety proﬁle should include

any practice like antibiotic feeding and focuses solely

the issue of potential resistance in human-disease-causing

on chasing away unproven risks, no matter how absurd

bacteria. It explains a science-based process drug makers

the result.

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.
Questions or comments? Contact Steve Kopperud at skopperud@poldir.com

Read archived
issues of For the Record
online with links to
additional information
at www.alpharma.com

http://www.alpharma.com

Meat + Poultry - September 2005

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