EINNEWS, December 10---At long last, and under pressure from Congress to do so, the Food and Drug Administration Thursday released the first-ever government estimate of the amount of antimicrobial drugs sold for use of animals in the U.S. But the agency did it in a way that sheds little light on whether drugs are overused in healthy animals.
According to the FDA, a total of 28.7 million pounds of drugs were sold in 2009. But the number did not break out the portion used to treat sick animals from those to promote growth or prevent disease. The agency said that breaking out the data would have disclosed confidential business information.
Public health advocacy groups have long argued that giving low doses of antibiotics to healthy cattle, pigs and poultry unnecessarily adds the drugs to the food chain while encouraging development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria strains. The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that nearly all of the drugs are used to promote faster growth and to counter what are generally unhealthy conditions in the meat production industry.
In 2008 Congress mandated the release of drug sale figures as a way of shedding more light on the extent of drug use for healthy animals.
The meat and poultry industries and the drug makers have opposed disclosure or restrictions on drug use arguing that no public health purpose would be served and that animal health and food safety would be compromised.
The federal government does not report official estimates on the quantities of antimicrobial drugs used by humans. A 2001 Union of Concerned Scientists report used outpatient and hospital prescribing data to estimate annual human use at 3 million pounds.
Legislation to restrict the use of drugs for growth promotion and disease prevention in food animals has been introduced in Congress several times but has never advanced beyond committee.
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