The AVMA letter to Congress is urging members to vote against H.R. 1549 and S. 619, a bill titled the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act. To the contrary, an independent commission consulted with national experts and concluded industrial farms routinely feed antibiotics to livestock that aren’t sick which can threaten human and pet health.
The Basics from the PEW Human Health and Industrial Farming Report:
“To help prevent the development of “superbugs” that are resistant to antibiotics, doctors commonly warn their patients that antibiotics should only be used for bacterial infections, and should be taken at the proper dosage for the full course of treatment.”
“Industrial farms violate these medical principles every day by feeding healthy animals low doses of antibiotics over long periods of time in order to speed up their growth and to compensate for unsanitary living conditions. This creates the ideal breeding ground for dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria to thrive and spread.”
“This misuse of antibiotics on industrial farms threatens the health of farm workers, communities and the public.”
“The Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming is working to save antibiotics and protect the food supply and human health by banning the use of antibiotics in the production of animals raised for food when disease is not present.”
Conversely, the AVMA told Congress:
“The Pew Commission’s process for gaining technical expertise in the Pew technical reports was biased and did not incorporate the findings and suggestions of a significant number of participating academicians.”
“Points in the Pew report that address antimicrobial resistance, the environment and animal welfare were determined to be the most pertinent to veterinary medicine. In these areas, the AVMA asserts that many of the Pew Commission’s sub-points have significant shortfalls and lack information as to how the Commission would execute a new plan or program.”
“The Pew Commission’s recommendations for highly restrictive bans on antibiotic use, which are also being used to advocate for PAMTA, have not been proven beneficial to public health. When Denmark and the Netherlands made an attempt to implement less restrictive bans on antibiotics than those recommended by Pew, they found that even a small decrease in antibiotic use severely diminished animal health and welfare without significantly improving human health.”
I’ve got an idea…how about feeding livestock foods Mother Nature intended them to eat (you know, things like grass and non-genetically engineered grains) instead of chicken feces and ground up animals. Just a thought, but perhaps the need for antibiotics wouldn’t be necessary if these animals weren’t living in deplorable conditions and fed garbage.
I will be urging my Representatives in Congress to vote for H.R. 1549 and S. 619. To read more on the Pew Commission Report visit: http://www.ncifap.org/ To read more of the AVMA Statement visit: http://www.avma.org/advocacy/PEWresponse/
