Former FDA Commishs To White House: Limit Antibiotics In Livestock

A pair of former FDA commissioners has written a letter to the White House Office of Management and Budget to urge the Obama administration to end the use of antibiotics in food-producing livestock for preventing disease and fattening the animals. The missive, which was sent today by David Kessler and Donald Kennedy, is the latest attempt to address concerns that the widespread and, allegedly, inappropriate use of these medications jeopardize human health by causing resistance to the drugs. As part of their overture, they want the White House to push the FDA to finalize a draft guidance issued last year that would create ground rules for usage. “We have more than enough scientific evidence to justify curbing the rampant use of antibiotics for livestock…” they write. “Action by the Obama administration would be an initial – and long-awaited – step to encourage livestock producers to stop relying on massive overuse of antibiotics to compensate for overcrowding, poor hygiene, and lax animal health management. The FDA draft guidance would create a so-called pathway toward phasing out such usage and suggests greater veterinary oversight for using antibiotics and working with drugmakers to voluntarily withdraw approved production uses of their antibiotics, among other things. Three drugmakers - Eli Lilly (LLY), Pfizer (PFE) and Merck (MRK) - subsequently agreed to do so (here is the draft guidance). Meanwhile, he US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a re...
Source: Pharmalot - Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Source Type: blogs