Two citizen petitions against antibiotics in
livestock feed were struck down by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New
York; the FDA will continue to allow the practice.
by John
Tyburski
Copyright © Daily
Digest News, KPR Media, LLC. All rights reserved.
Earlier this
year, the World Health Organization issued a report warning of an emerging public health
problem as the world enters a “post-antibiotic” era. Some believe that routine
use of antibiotics in animal feed contributes to antibiotic resistance. Still,
however, many hog, cattle, and poultry producers incorporate low doses of
antibiotics such as penicillin and tetracyclines into their daily feeds in a
blanket effort to prevent and treat infections.
In 2011, the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rejected two citizen petitions for the
agency to hold public hearings to review the latest scientific evidence on the
safety of antibiotics in livestock feed. The rejection contradicted a 1977
agency declaration that the practice was unsafe. In 2012, the National
Resources Defense Council, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, and
other groups named in a suit brought against the FDA won their case
in New York district court for investigating the use of antibiotics in feed.
On Thursday,
the federal appeals court overturned the 2012 decision and said that the FDA
had authority over the courts in managing this concern.
“It is not
for us to determine whether [the FDA] has been prudent or imprudent, wise or
foolish, effective or ineffective in its approach to this problem,” the
judges wrote in the majority opinion.
Some public health experts are dismayed with the ruling. Said Robert S. Lawrence of the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future in a statement, “The misuse of antibiotics in food animal production contributes to the epidemic of antibiotic resistance in our hospitals and communities…Today’s decision is deeply disappointing.”
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