Antibiotics legislation needs your support today!

Senators Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) recently joined their House colleagues, Representatives Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD) to introduce legislation that, if enacted, will end the overuse of medically important antibiotics in animal agriculture.

The overuse of antibiotics contributes to the rise of antibiotic-resistant infections in humans that are costly and difficult to treat. Moreover, the burden of antibiotic resistance is borne by the most vulnerable in our society: children, the elderly, and those with already weakened immune systems, such as people undergoing chemotherapy or persons with HIV/AIDS.

The Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (S. 1460/H.R. 2932) will phase out the practice of feeding massive quantities of antibiotics to food animals within two years of enactment. Livestock and poultry producers misuse these life-saving medicines to accelerate animal growth and prevent diseases caused by overcrowded and unsanitary conditions on industrial-style factory farms, not to treat disease. An estimated 70% of antibiotics and related drugs produced in this country--nearly 25 million pounds per year--are used in animal agriculture for these nontherapeutic purposes. This amount is more than 8 times the antibiotics and related drugs used to treat human illness.

While some producers and retailers of meat products have announced policies that take steps to curb antibiotic use, private-sector initiatives to reduce antibiotic use in animal agriculture are rare, limited in scope, and difficult to verify. Federal action is needed to achieve comprehensive reductions and create a level playing field for all producers and retailers.

Passage of The Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act is critical to keep antibiotics working for human health. In addition to averting the harmful effects of antibiotic overuse on human health, ending this practice will force producers to raise animals using more sustainable methods.

The American Medical Association and over 300 other health, consumer, environmental, agricultural, and humane organizations support The Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act.

Your voice is needed to build support for this critical legislation. Write to your Senators and member of Congress and urge them to cosponsor this legislation to preserve antibiotics as an important tool to protect human health!

From house.gov Search for H.R. 2932

(5)(A) an estimated 70 percent of the antibiotics and other antimicrobial drugs used in the United States are fed to farm animals for nontherapeutic purposes, including--

(i) growth promotion; and

(ii) compensation for crowded, unsanitary, and stressful farming and transportation conditions; and

(B) unlike human use of antibiotics, these nontherapeutic uses in animals typically do not require a prescription;