Antibiotic Use in Agriculture: Background and Legislation (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Jan. 7, 2010 |
| Report Number |
R40739 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Geoffrey S. Becker, Specialist in Agricultural Policy |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
Public health experts have expressed concern about an increase in antibiotic resistance among sick patients. Such resistance has been linked to a number of causes, such as overuse of antibiotics by medical professionals and their patients, and their wide use for nontherapeutic (essentially nonmedical) purposes in food animals. Agricultural producers administer antibiotics in feed for some types of food-producing animals not only to treat and prevent diseases, but also to encourage growth and efficient use of feed rations. Some argue that nontherapeutic uses should be severely constrained and/or limited to drugs not associated with human medical treatments. Others oppose this approach, arguing that many animal production operations would not be commercially viable (and that the animalsâ health could be compromised) without the drugsâ routine use, and/or that the linkage between such use and antimicrobial resistance lacks a strong scientific basis. In the 111th Congress, companion bills (H.R. 1549, S. 619) have been introduced that would phase out the nontherapeutic use in food animals of seven specific classes of antibiotic drugs that can also be used to treat or prevent diseases and infections in humans. While not directly endorsing the bills, a top official of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates animal drugs under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, recommended in July 2009 that the phase-out of nontherapeutic uses of animal antibiotics be considered.
