The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that it was beginning to phase out the use of some critical antibiotics in animals raised for meat, a major policy shift that could have far-reaching implications for industrial farming and human health.
The change, which will take effect over the next three years, is the first serious attempt by the federal government to curb the broad use of antibiotics in farm animals in decades. Pressure for action has mounted as the effectiveness of drugs important for human health has declined, and deaths from bugs resistant to antibiotics have soared. Food producers said they will abide by the new rules, but some public health advocates voiced concerns that loopholes could render the new policy toothless…
The agency has changed the rules so that food animal producers would no longer be able to use antibiotics to make animals grow faster. It will accomplish that by asking manufacturers of the drugs to change the labels in a way that would make it illegal for farmers to use the medicines for growth promotion.
The changes, which were originally proposed in 2012, are voluntary for drug companies. But F.D.A. officials said they believed the companies would comply, based on discussions during the public comment period. The two drug makers that represent a majority of such drug products have already stated their intent to participate…
Additionally, the agency is requiring that licensed veterinarians supervise the use of antibiotics, effectively requiring farmers and ranchers to obtain prescriptions in order to be able to use the drugs for their animals.
Consumer health advocates say it is an open question whether the new rules will change how much antibiotics are consumed by animals. They say that a loophole will allow animal producers to keep using the same low doses of antibiotics, by arguing that they were needed to keep animals from getting sick, and thereby avoiding the new ban on use for growth promotion…
A more meaningful move, Dr. Keeve Nachman said, would be to ban the use of antibiotics for the prevention of disease, a step the F.D.A. so far has not taken. That would limit antibiotic uses to treatment of sickness that was diagnosed by a veterinarian, a much narrower category, he said.
RTFA for a few more details. This should get rolling in the beginning of 2014 and we’ll see which Pharmas obey which regulations. Same goes for the agribusiness giants who consider consumers a fraction of a step more important than the commodity animals they slaughter.