Protect Your Children from Antibiotic Resistance
Did you know that many industrial farms often feed healthy animals antibiotics over long periods of time to promote growth and compensate for the effects of overcrowded and unsanitary conditions? Last summer, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed a way to address this issue, but the deadline to finalize their plan -- June 2011 -- has come and gone.
The U.S. FDA has a responsibility to meet their deadlines -- especially when it affects the health of our children.
Up to 70 percent of all antibiotics in the U.S. are given to healthy food animals. This practice is a concern because it creates dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can multiply, spread to humans and cause these drugs to stop working.
The FDA missed its deadline and the time to act is now. Please send a comment to the White House and FDA urging them to protect the health of our children by keeping their commitments and taking action regarding antibiotic use on industrial farms.
I am a concerned citizen writing to ask both the White House and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take action and protect human healthy by eliminating the overuse and misuse of antibiotics in food animal production since this dangerous practice helps breed deadly antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can spread to humans.
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I was pleased last year when the FDA released the draft guidance, "The Judicious Use of Medically Important Antimicrobial Drugs in Food-Producing Animals." However, I am concerned because it has been over a year and no final guidance document has been issued. The administration is putting human health at risk by not addressing the overuse of antibiotics in food animal production, and Americans cannot wait any longer for the injudicious users of these life-saving drugs to end.
In 1977, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was poised to withdraw some antibiotics from use on industrial farms. But we are still waiting. As the agency in charge of keeping drugs that humans and animals depend on safe and effective, the FDA needs to take action now.
By eliminating the overuse and misuse of antibiotics in food animal production and reducing the prevalence of antibiotic resistance, we are saving antibiotics and allowing them to remain effective for treating both human and animal illness.
