Joint letter from more than 100 health, consumer, environmental and other groups to U.S. Representatives urging them to remove a provision of a bill that would worsen the human crisis of bacteria getting increasingly resistant to antibiotics. Hastening wider use of antibiotics in agriculture and aquaculture makes no sense at a time when antibiotic resistance is an emerging public health crisis.

The groups are urging that legislation to streamline approvals of certain drugs for use in animals does not apply inappropriately to antibiotics for use in food-producing animals. During the 107thCongress, the Minor Use/Minor Species Act (MUMS, H.R.1956) had no such limitation and that such a provision should be incorporated prior to consideration of the MUMS bill in the 108th Congress