FACT: The strategic and judicious use of antibiotics in livestock to treat illness and prevent illness when livestock are at risk for bacterial infections plays an important role in protecting the safety of our nation’s food supply and preventing food-borne illness in humans.
The World Health Organization has said, “Antimicrobials have also proved to be important for sustainable livestock production and for the control of animal infections that could be passed on to humans.”
In his book, Quantitative Health Risk Analysis Methods: Modeling the Human Health Impacts, Dr. Anthony Cox, PhD in Risk Analysis from M.I.T., estimates there would be up to 4,500 additional cases of food-borne illness per year due to sick animals going to market if use of macrolides – a major class of antibiotics -- was banned.
FACT: Banning the judicious use of antibiotics in livestock to treat and prevent illness in Denmark did NOT deliver public health benefits or reduce antibiotic resistance or MRSA.
A Danish government report shows an increase in resistance in a variety of human diseases including a 10-fold increase in MRSA cases since the ban was instituted. In 2008 -- when the program was in full swing -- Denmark experienced one of the worst salmonella outbreaks in 15 years.
Dr. Scott Hurd, Former Undersecretary for Food Safety for USDA, has said, “Unfortunately, there has been no improvement in public health as measured by no reduction in Salmonella or Campylobacter resistance levels in human infections.”
A 2002 World Health Organization report found that the ban did not have any significant positive effect on clinically resistant diseases in humans.
Minnesota Congressman Collin Peterson, House Ag Committee Chairman, returned from leading bipartisan congressional delegation on a fact-finding mission to Denmark in September 2009 and issued a statement saying they found “no scientific evidence that reducing antibiotic use in agriculture results in public health benefits.”
FACT: Antibiotic resistance is an important human health issue and by far the most pressing concern is overuse of antibiotics by humans. CDC addresses this at: http://www.cdc.gov/Features/GetSmart/
FACT: According to a 2006 USDA study, fewer than half of all farms report using antibiotics to promote growth. The 70% reported by the Union of Concerned Scientists is based on estimates and incorrect assumptions, including the estimates of two drugs never used in the U.S.