Health Professionals Call on FDA Commissioner to Reduce Antibiotics in Animal Agriculture
[September 4 UPDATE] Dr. William Flynn, Deputy Director for Science Policy, Center for Veterinary Medicine at the FDA, responds to our letter:
“FDA recognizes the seriousness of this issue and the importance of acting promptly to implement meaningful measures…[W]e understand the importance of reinforcing the principles of appropriate and judicious use, particularly for prevention purposes, and the significance of meaningful veterinary oversight of these important drugs.”
Health Care Without Harm will continue to work with partners to make sure decision makers follow-through with protecting antibiotics.
[July 16, 2014] More than 800 health professionals have signed a petition to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg calling for leadership on the growing antibiotic resistance crisis. Delivered to Commissioner Hamburg on July 16th, the petition recommends the FDA reduce the overuse and misuse of antibiotics in food animal production by requiring meaningful veterinary oversight on farms. The currently legal, routine, and unnecessary use of non-therapeutic antibiotics in animal agriculture is contributing to the rise in resistant bacterial infections in humans. Health Care Without Harm's national Healthy Food in Health Care program works with the health care community in bringing an end to the routine use of antibiotics in raising food animals.
