Antibiotics for Pigs or People?

As the cover story in the latest issue of Time magazine points out, Americans now are forced to face one of the high costs of cheap food: “the scary rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.”

While we like to think “Old MacDonald-”type farms produce our burger or hot dog, the Time article exposes the disturbing fact that our all-American meal is much more likely the product of a concentrated animal feeding operation or CAFO, which is part of the country’s massive industrialized food complex. On industrial farms, thousands of chickens, pigs and hundreds of cattle live in cramped conditions and are fed antibiotics daily in food and water to promote faster weight gain and compensate for unsanitary conditions. “The present system of producing food animals in the United States presents an unacceptable level of risk to public health,” said Robert Martin, who was the executive director of the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production.

Guidelines are in place to limit the use of antibiotics in humans and pet animals to reduce the growth of superbugs that are difficult to treat, but we have failed to take this smart approach with how we use them on industrial animal farms. As much as 70 percent of all antibiotics and related drugs in the U.S. are used in food animals that are not sick. Each year 300,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths are caused by dangerous food-borne bacteria, such as E. Coli, Campylobacter and Salmonella, which are increasingly antibiotic resistant. Overall, antibiotic-resistant infections cost the U.S. health care system at least $4 to $5 billion per year.

“As a veterinarian who has taken an oath to protect public health, I believe it is my responsibility to educate and advocate for ways to address the rising problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria,” said Michael J. Blackwell, DVM, MPH, former dean, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tennessee.

Fortunately, Congress and the administration are considering policy changes. Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY), is sponsoring a bill, the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA), to phase out the use of seven classes of antibiotics critical to human health. Recently, the FDA testified that "any proposed legislation facilitate the timely removal of nonjudicious uses of antimicrobial drugs in food-producing animals.” While this is a good first step, the proposed position does not go far enough and would allow the continuation of conditions that necessitate the improper use of antibiotics in the first place. Successful models already exist in the U.S. where millions of animals on large industrial farms can be raised cost-effectively without the routine use of antibiotics.

Is there evidence that banning antibiotics reduces resistance in people? Why is there a need for legislation? Can the U.S. follow the lead of countries, such as Denmark, which successfully curbed the overuse of antibiotics in food animals?