Animal Antibiotic Ban Blocked

The Food and Drug Administration has blocked recent efforts to prevent the use of specific antibiotics important for human medicine in livestock. The petitions contend that the use of certain antibiotics in livestock increases the danger of antimicrobial resistance, rendering them less effective in treating human illness. The dual petitions, filed by a group of public-interest, medical, and animal-welfare organizations, were launched in 1999 and 2005, and the FDA announced its rejection of the appeals late last week. Michael Jacobsen, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, comments to Food Safety News, “The industry has long failed to cooperate voluntarily, and the FDA should take binding action.”