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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsU.S. Tightens Rules on Antibiotics Use for Livestock
Source: New York Times
U.S. Tightens Rules on Antibiotics Use for Livestock
By GARDINER HARRIS
Published: April 11, 2012
Farmers and ranchers will for the first time need a prescription from a veterinarian before using antibiotics in farm animals, in hopes that more judicious use of the drugs will reduce the tens of thousands of human deaths that result each year from the drugs overuse.
The Food and Drug Administration announced the new rule Wednesday after trying for more than 35 years to stop farmers and ranchers from feeding antibiotics to cattle, pigs, chickens and other animals simply to help the animals grow larger. Using small amounts of antibiotics over long periods of time leads to the growth of bacteria that are resistant to the drugs effects, endangering humans who become infected but cannot be treated with routine antibiotic therapy.
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Michael Taylor, the F.D.A.s deputy commissioner for food, predicted that the new restrictions would save lives because farmers would have to convince a veterinarian that their animals were either sick or at risk of getting a specific illness. Just using the drugs for growth will be disallowed and, it is hoped, this will cut their use sharply. The new requirements will also make obtaining antibiotics more cumbersome and expensive.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
By GARDINER HARRIS
Published: April 11, 2012
Farmers and ranchers will for the first time need a prescription from a veterinarian before using antibiotics in farm animals, in hopes that more judicious use of the drugs will reduce the tens of thousands of human deaths that result each year from the drugs overuse.
The Food and Drug Administration announced the new rule Wednesday after trying for more than 35 years to stop farmers and ranchers from feeding antibiotics to cattle, pigs, chickens and other animals simply to help the animals grow larger. Using small amounts of antibiotics over long periods of time leads to the growth of bacteria that are resistant to the drugs effects, endangering humans who become infected but cannot be treated with routine antibiotic therapy.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Michael Taylor, the F.D.A.s deputy commissioner for food, predicted that the new restrictions would save lives because farmers would have to convince a veterinarian that their animals were either sick or at risk of getting a specific illness. Just using the drugs for growth will be disallowed and, it is hoped, this will cut their use sharply. The new requirements will also make obtaining antibiotics more cumbersome and expensive.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/12/us/antibiotics-for-livestock-will-require-prescription-fda-says.html
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U.S. Tightens Rules on Antibiotics Use for Livestock (Original Post)
Eugene
Apr 2012
OP
rurallib
(62,478 posts)1. I will believe it when I see it.
MichiganVote
(21,086 posts)2. Yup. They already use stuff from outside the country.
Revlon10
(177 posts)3. Why does livestock need antibiotics ????? Feed them grass
if they need antibiotics, then they are sick, if they are sick, we should not be eating them. Simple. The USDA. Should enforce a rule that sick animals are not to be killed for food.