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News from Keep Antibiotics Working – May 2009 Welcome to latest edition of KAW's newsletter! If you recently contacted your Senator and Representative about the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA), KAW thanks you for making your voice heard! If you have not yet had a chance to support this important public health bill, we ask you to write your representatives today. Let them know that medically important antibiotics should not be used as feed and water additives for healthy animals. Take Action! Congress can safeguard antibiotics by passing the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA). This legislation, if passed, will require the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to cancel approvals for the routine use of human antibiotics as a feed additive if the uses are found to be unsafe from a resistance point of view. KAW is working hard to ensure that this legislation continues to get the attention it needs from lawmakers, but we need your help in urging Congress to act as quickly as possible. Please Take Action! today and urge your friends and family to do the same. They can join KAW's action network here. The greater the public demand for action on this issue, the stronger our chances are for passing PAMTA in 2009! FDA Watch: Dr. Margaret Hamburg is FDA's new Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg has been confirmed as Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). According to the New York Times, "Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg will be sworn in as commissioner of food and drugs this week after the Senate voted unanimously on Monday night to confirm her." In
2003, Dr. Hamburg was the co-author of a National
Academies of Science report that found that “The world is
facing an imminent crisis in the control of infectious diseases
as the result of a gradual but steady increase
in...resistance...” The report recommended immediate
action to reduce the inappropriate use of antibiotics, including
instituting a “ban on the use of antimicrobials for growth
promotion in animals if those drugs were also used in human
medicine...” As FDA commissioner, Dr. News from California Back in January, KAW applauded Senate President pro-tem Darrell Steinberg and Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez's initiative to reorganize the Senate committee structure in the California legislature. They wanted to give the full-range of stakeholders in the food system - including consumers, public health experts, environmentalists, animal welfare advocates, and family farmers - a voice in the making of food and agriculture policy in California. Most recently, California Sen. Dean Florez has introduced SB 416, a bill which would phase out the nontherapeutic use of important human antibiotics in livestock and poultry production in California. Sens. Elaine Alquist and Joe Simitian voted in favor of SB 416 in committee, and hopefully will continue to support it as the bill moves to the Senate floor. If you live in California, please contact your state Senator and support this legislation. You can find your California state representatives here. KAW will keep you posted as this important state-level bill moves forward.
Thanks for your continued support of Keep Antibiotics Working! Please visit our website to learn about all we are doing to curb the routine use of important antibiotics in animal agriculture. Stay tuned for future developments on these and other issues. Best wishes, Lisa Isenhart KAW Coalition Coordinator |
