Rep. Waxman Statement on FDA Guidance on Antibiotic Use in Livesto

Statement

Today, Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman released the following statement on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announcement regarding phasing out growth promotion uses of medically important antibiotics in food-producing animals:

"I applaud FDA for taking this important step toward preserving the effectiveness of our most important human antibiotics. As a first step, it makes sense to give industry an opportunity to act voluntarily to curtail inappropriate uses of antibiotics in meat and poultry production. I was glad to hear that FDA will be watching closely to see if this voluntary approach is effective. I will be watching too. I hope industry has finally seen the writing on the wall: consumers all over the world do not want antibiotics to be indiscriminately given to food-producing animals. Industry should act in accordance with consumer demand and opt to comply with FDA's guidance."

The FDA issued a final guidance document that describes how animal pharmaceutical companies can voluntarily change their antimicrobial drug labels to delete the so-called "growth enhancement" and "feed efficiency" uses, as well as to change the marketing status of these drugs to require a veterinarian's involvement before they can be administered. Once a company opts to make such changes, however,

Source