AVMA Expresses Concern over Antibiotics Legislation

By Dr. Ashley Shelton, Assistant Director of the GRD

The AVMA and other members of the animal health community continue to monitor and express concern over Congress legislating how and which antibiotics can be used in animal agriculture. In March, Senator Edward Kennedy (MA) and Representative Louise McIntosh Slaughter (28th-NY) re-introduced the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA). This legislation purports to preserve the effectiveness of medically important antibiotics used in the treatment of human and animal diseases by reviewing the safety of certain antibiotics used for 'non-therapeutic' purposes in food-producing animals. The bill defines "non-therapeutic use" as the use of a drug in an healthy animal as a feed or water additive for growth promotion, feed efficiency, weight gain, routine disease prevention or other routine purposes.

The AVMA is currently opposed to PAMTA. Not only would the legislation cause an increase in animal disease and death – an unfortunate and unintended consequence – but evidence has also shown that such political bans of this nature do not have the intended benefit of reducing antibiotic resistance patterns in humans. Additionally, a 2000 ban of antibiotics as growth promoters in Denmark, with a pork industry roughly equivalent to the size of the pork herd in Iowa, has resulted in greater amounts of antibiotics used to treat animal disease.

As we continue our education efforts on this issue, we are finding numerous misconceptions surrounding the use of antibiotics in animal agriculture. Many people, for example, don't know that the FDA has approved four uses of antibiotics in food animals: treatment, prevention, control and growth promotion. Veterinarians use antibiotics to prevent and control the spread of disease when they believe an existing disease could rapidly spread to more animals, or to prevent disease at times when animals are vulnerable, such as weaning. Certain antibiotics, not steroids or hormones, are approved for use in growth promotion. Data shows that these antibiotics often treat subclinical disease, as well as provide an immuno-protective effect, which in turn allow the animal to process feed more efficiently and achieve its full growth potential.

In addition to a very stringent FDA approval process for animal antibiotics, often more so than for human antibiotics, there are several layers of protection in place to ensure these drugs are used without harm to public health. In addition to withdrawal times which prevent residues of antibiotics in meat, milk, and eggs, there are post-approval drug monitoring and review requirements, responsible use guidelines for veterinarians and producers, public and private surveillance systems to monitor for the emergence of antibiotic resistance and pathogen reduction programs in food-processing facilities.

For more than 40 years, antibiotics have been used to treat sick animals, prevent illness and maintain the health of animals, which translates to the safest food possible for U.S. consumers.

For more information, please contact Dr. Ashley Shelton at ashelton@avma.org.