By Natasha Gilbert of Nature magazine
Alarmed at signs that the overuse of antibiotics in farm animals is blunting these key weapons against human disease, governments are taking action.
In industrial farming, antimicrobials are commonly given to farm animals to treat infections, and prophylactically to prevent disease or spur growth. But there is growing concern that excessive use on farms is helping to breed antibiotic-resistant microbes, from Salmonella (see `Rising resistance') to Escherichia coli, which are harder to treat when they infect people.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is now moving to protect key antibiotics known as cephalosporins, which are used in humans to treat a range of infections, including pneumonia. On January 4, the agency said that it would prohibit certain uses of cephalosporins in farm animals including cattle, pigs, chickens and turkeys, because overuse of the drugs is "likely to contribute to cephalosporin-resistant strains of certain bacterial pathogens". If cephalosporins become ineffective in treating human diseases, the FDA said, "doctors may have to use drugs that are not as effective, or that have greater side effects".
The new rules, to come into effect on April 5, restrict veterinary surgeons to using the two cephalosporin drugs specifically approved for food-producing animals -- ceftiofur and cephapirin -- and ban prophylactic use. In animals not listed in the FDA order, such as ducks or rabbits, vets will have more discretion to use the drugs.
Most antibiotic classes are used both in animals and in humans, so the FDA is also considering tightening controls on all classes of antimicrobials used on farms. It is reviewing comments on rules that would prohibit the use of any antimicrobial drug to promote animal growth, a move that would be welcomed by many vets. "We would support greater veterinary oversight of antimicrobial drugs," says Christine Hoang, assistant director of scientific activities at the American Veterinary Medical Association in Schaumburg, Illinois.
The European Union (EU), which already forbids the use of antimicrobials to promote growth, plans to strengthen its own rules. Its new antibiotic-resistance strategy, published in November 2011, calls on EU countries to ensure that antibiotics are only available on prescription, and to strengthen surveillance systems to track and report cases of resistance (see Nature http://doi.org/cshmhv; 2011).
Although it is widely accepted that overusing antibiotics can be a major driver of resistance in microbes, the evidence linking antibiotic use in farm animals with resistance in humans is still controversial (A. E. Mather et al. Proc. R. Soc. B http://doi.org/hj8; 2011). A research programme coordinated by Europe's Innovative Medicines Initiative could provide some answers: in the next few months it will call for proposals for €350 million ($445 million) in grants to understand how resistance arises, and to develop new antimicrobial drugs.
Antimicrobial resistance is also this year's top priority for the intergovernmental World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), based in Paris. Bernard Vallat, director-general of the OIE, says that it is working with the FDA and the World Health Organization to help developing countries to improve their legislation covering the control, distribution and use of veterinary antimicrobials. The three organizations plan to urge governments to put vets in charge of allocating the drugs and to ban preventative use.
"There are over 100 countries worldwide without legislation. Antibiotics are sold like sweets," Vallat told Nature. "There is no control and this is a major risk to animal and human health."
This article is reproduced with permission from the magazine Nature. The article was first published on January 10, 2012.
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Add CommentGreat, it's nice to see the FDA placing people above profits for big agribusiness firms for a change. Now, if we can get rid of a lot of the unfair subsidies that these disgusting and dangerous feedlots enjoy, then maybe more humane methods of raising meat can increase market share. Disasterous grain subsidies and the flood of hormones injected into these animals make their meat artifically cheap. The pollution and health hazards that the waste lagoons on these feedlots present is another burden on society that is not captured in the price of a Big Mac. And don't even get me started on how disgusting and dangerous the slaughterhouses are...all in the name of pushing up the agribusiness firm's stock price a few pennies...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUncontrolled abuse of antibiotics -How much more can this hottest of health topics be pussyfooted around I wonder.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFifty years after the chronic commercial abuse of antibiotics for profit maximization ( 15% more weight gain, shorter feeding times equals more dollar value, not counting the medical consequences), the public is still being hoodwinked about the fact that the horse has bolted!
How on earth can Sci Am justify this wording:"The evidence linking antibiotic use in farm animals with resistance in humans is still controversial."?
I remember our high school teacher telling us fifty years ago about the evolutionary principle of survival of the fittest bacteria surviving the onslaught of antibiotic assaults through a typically evolutionary readjustment of their immune systems.
Bird flu, too, is the man-made, bio-logical, outcome of our profit-oriented Fast Food Inc.'s
A recent German research report has found that over 50 % of chickens for sale in supermarkets have been found to be multi-resistant to antibiotics. (Guess how many more chickens escaped scrutiny..)
Anyone still eating meat is playing Russian roulette with their health.
Meat is not alone in this greed cycle of chemical pollution of our food. Anyone see the news story about banned pesticides in imported orange juice yesterday?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this75% of apples, green beans and asparagus eaten in the US are imported from 3rd world countries that have little to no standards or enforcement of food safety or chemicals in food products. Think about it, it’s the middle of winter and the store has fresh green beans? They are grown half way round the world in conditions that only God knows how disgusting. Things that would land you in jail or worse if you tried to do to food in the US or Western Europe, are quite common in these countries due to no law, or corruption not enforcing what few laws they do have.
If you are not eating local, fresh and as organic as you can find, you are part of the problem. Buying from the giant supermarkets that support their fellow industrialist “farmers” is what keeps this, and will continue to keep, a very large problem that will haunt us with health issues for 100’s of years.
Rent the movie Food Inc., you’ll never buy or eat food the same way again.