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News from Keep Antibiotics Working – July 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. FDA Watch: New approach to antibiotic use in livestock For the first time on record, the US Food and Drug Adminstration (FDA) has publicly supported the reduction in the routine uses of antibiotics in farm animals. Read the groundbreaking testimony of Joshua Sharfstein, Principal Deputy Commissioner of Food and Drugs, from a July 13th hearing of the House Committee on Rules. KAW views this development as a step in the right direction, and has joined other prominent organizations in supporting the Obama Administration's new public health approach to the use of antimicrobials in livestock. View this joint organizational letter to the White House here. Specifically, we join organizations such as the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the American Medical Association, and others in stating that: We support the FDA’s calls for phasing out the use of antimicrobial drugs for growth promotion and feed efficiency, and for requiring that all other uses of these drugs be carried out under the supervision of a veterinarian and within the boundaries of a valid veterinarian-client-patient relationship – which we expect will end over-the-counter sales of tons of antimicrobial drugs annually. We also support the agency’s expressed intent to clearly define the limited instances where antimicrobials may be used judiciously in food animals for purposes of disease prevention and control and are eager to work with FDA to ensure that the policy developed is the most protective of public health. This is exciting news and we know that all of you who have been following KAW for the past decade will be as pleased as we are to see such movement on this important issue!
On the heels of the FDA's testimony on July 13th, many prominent newspapers have editorialized in favor of reducing antibiotic use on farms. They include the New York Times, the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, and the New York Times Herald-Record. You can read additional media coverage on our News page. Take Action! While the FDA wants to reduce unnecessary uses of antibiotics on farms, the agency faces extreme opposition from agribusiness. That is why we support the enactment of supporting legislation. 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. We urge you to contact your representatives about this issue. If you have done so any time before March 2009, we need you to take action again. The bill has been re-introduced and therefore needs your renewed support. 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! If you want to learn more about the issue of antibiotic resistance, please visit our website. There you can locate scientific articles, catch up on the latest media coverage, and learn about all we are doing to curb the routine use of medically important antibiotics in animal agriculture. Thanks again for your continued support and interest! Cheers, Lisa Isenhart KAW Coalition Coordinator |
