Protecting the Efficacy of Antibiotics: This is What Real Leadership (and Change) Looks Like

from Civil Eats:



Protecting the Efficacy of Antibiotics: This is What Real Leadership (and Change) Looks Like
By Avinash Kar on March 15, 2013


Yesterday, Rep. Louise Slaughter, Congress’s lone microbiologist and a long-time leader on the issue of antibiotic resistance, reintroduced an updated version of the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act, or PAMTA as it is better known.

This is an important piece of legislation concerning one of the most pressing public health issues of our time—antibiotic resistance. The Director General of the World Health Organization has warned, bacteria are becoming so resistant to common antibiotics that it could mean “the end of modern medicine as we know it,” and “things as common as strep throat or a child’s scratched knee could once again kill.” Just this January, the UK’s top medical official described an “apocalyptic scenario” in 20 years’ time, in which simple operations could lead to death from routine infections “because we have run out of antibiotics.” CDC counts antibiotic resistance among its “top concerns.”

The abuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture is contributing to the growing public health crisis of antibiotic resistance. The science overwhelmingly supports the conclusion that the use of antibiotics in livestock production poses a risk to human health. An honor roll of medical and scientific groups agrees that “overuse and misuse of important antibiotics in food animals must end, in order to protect human health.”

PAMTA is aimed at doing exactly what its name suggests, preserving the effectiveness of antibiotics, with a focus on stopping the indiscriminate use of antibiotics on cattle, swine, poultry, and other livestock animals when the animals are not sick. Eighty percent of all antibiotics sold in the US are for use in animals. The vast majority of that use is to speed up animal growth and to compensate for the dangers of crowded, unsanitary conditions. Such use is contributing to the rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria which threatens the continued effectiveness of these essential medicines. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://civileats.com/2013/03/15/protecting-the-efficacy-of-antibiotics-this-is-what-real-leadership-and-change-looks-like/