It's About Time the FDA Restricted Antibiotic Use in Farm Animals

COMMENTARY | The FDA recently restricted the use of certain classes of antibiotics in cattle, swine, chicken and turkey production. They've long suspected the routine use of cephalosporin and other antibiotics in farm animals increased the risk of antibiotic resistant diseases in humans. These drugs are now reserved for human use only. So my only question is, what took them so long?

Health officials have known for years that the overuse of antibiotics could cause resistance to disease causing microbes in humans and animals. The Center for Disease Control set up a task force to study the problem in 1999. In their 2001 report "A Public Health Action Plan to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance" they acknowledged the connection between antibiotics and antimicrobial resistant microbes. It changes "..treatment and patient outcomes..." including problems with resistant strains of viruses, tuberculosis, parasites like malaria and fungi.

Earlier in the decade, the World Health Organization announced that antibiotic resistance posed a worldwide threat. In 2001 they published "Strategy for Containment of Antimicrobial Resistance," a report that recommended a number of options for reducing the risk to humans worldwide.

Too many antibiotics means more diseases

What does overdosing on antibiotics do? For one thing there's MRSA. Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus used to be confined to hospitals; but now it's everywhere. I'd never heard of Clostridium difficile either, until my mother was hospitalized. After a week of antibiotics I wasn't allowed to enter her room without masks, gloves and a surgical gown. "C-diff" is so resistant to treatment, it sometimes kills patients after antibiotics cure their original ailments.

Women have known for decades, if you take antibiotics there's a chance you'll get a yeast infection like Candidas. Antibiotics are a key risk factor. Yeast infections used to be a personal matter between a woman and her doctor; but in recent years, they're so widespread, they've spawned new classes of over-the-counter medications and a ton of annoying, not so personal TV commercials.

Antibiotic treated animals mean bigger profits

The use of antibiotics in animals is both therapeutic and profit-based. According to Microbiologist Dr. Glenn Morris in his interview for the PBS "Frontline" documentary, "Modern Meat," antibiotics get rid of certain diseases in meats, they also cause animals to grow 1 to 3 percent bigger. That means greater profits. Could that be why previous attempts to regulate antibiotic use bought the meat lobbyist out in full force?.

Antibiotic treated chickens develop "resistant microorganisms" they pass on to later generations. According to Dr. Morris, "...if a person ingests the resistant bacteria via improperly cooked meat and becomes ill, he or she may not respond to antibiotic treatment."

We needed animal/antibiotic regulation. As I said before, what took them so long?