Limiting antibiotics

Yesterday, it was announced that the FDA wants to limit the number of antibiotics given to farm animals due to concern over the overuse of the drugs. The agency is worried that pumping these animals full of antibiotics is spurring bacteria to evolve and become resistant to the drugs. Then when humans take antibiotics to counter an infection, they no longer work. While the guidance issued by the FDA is voluntary, hopefully enough comments come in from concerned citizens and groups urging the FDA to enact real rules and regulations on this topic.

I know that I will be submitting a comment into the FDA. I believe that the FDA and USDA need to form an interagency agreement and work together on making farm animals more healthy by changing the environment in which they are born and bred. If animals are in better environments (i.e. not squeezed together in a small building or standing in their own poop all day) then antibiotics are not even necessary.

Want to submit a comment? Any citizen may do so by going here. Put FDA-2010-D-0094-0001 into the search box and comment away! Don’t be shy! Employees from the FDA will read every submission and every voice counts! If you want to read the short Federal Register entry, go here.