|
February
2, 2010
Dear Editors, Reports and
Producers:
With increased public
attention surrounding the use of antibiotics by
farmers and the potential impact on public
health, Oklahoma pork producers are open to a
discussion about today's comprehensive approach
to animal care and food safety. In summary, we
are committed to producing safe food while
embracing an ethical obligation to the care and
well-being of our animals. That is why we are
providing information to aid the public
discussion and ensure that your readers/viewers
understand that a safe U.S. food supply depends
on good animal
health.
Protecting
animal health protects our food
supply:
Farmers work closely
with veterinarians to create animal health
management programs to keep pigs healthy and
prevent diseases before they develop and spread.
These programs are customized for each farm and
include plans for barn hygiene and ventilation,
parasite control, a balanced diet and how and
when to administer medicines.
Antibiotics are an important tool
to keep our animals healthy and our food supply
safe. For more than 50 years, antibiotics have
helped protect our food supply and improve
animal health and welfare. Just like humans,
animals get sick and require treatment to
improve. New studies show animals with sickness
through the course of their lives have higher
incidences of foodborne pathogens on their
carcasses. By maintaining the health of our
animals, we are providing a safer, more
wholesome product for
consumers.
Responsible
use is important:
Pork
producers work with their veterinarians to make
sure the right medicine is used at the right
time to treat the right pathogen or disease.
Both the American Veterinary Medical Association
(AVMA) and the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) support the following judicious use
guidelines embraced by farmers through the pork
industry's "Take Care: Use Antibiotics
Responsibly" and "Pork Quality Assurance Plus®"
(PQA Plus) programs. Indeed, all major
processors require their pork producer suppliers
to be PQA Plus Certified.
- Problem
Prevention:
Producers practice appropriate husbandry and
hygiene, administer routine health examinations
and provide vaccinations when necessary to
decrease the need to use antibiotics.
- Veterinary
Oversight:
Licensed veterinarians work with producers to
make decisions on the selection and use of
FDA-approved antibiotics.
- First-line
Therapy:
Animal health plans focus on the appropriate
therapy for a specific health challenge or
disease. Veterinarians discourage the use of
antibiotics important to treating resistant
infections in humans or animals as the first
treatment option and encourage consideration of
other therapeutic options before, or while,
administering antibiotics.
- Prioritize
Treatment:
Antibiotic use is limited to sick or at-risk
animals to treat the fewest number of animals
possible.
- Scientific
Analysis:
Accurate records are maintained to better
evaluate health management programs.
Regulations
protect human health and food
safety:
Like
human medicine, all animal medicines are
required by law to meet certain standards. The
FDA has regulatory oversight of food animal
antibiotics, which undergo a comprehensive
review process and must pass significant human
and food safety benchmarks before approval.
Protecting public health is an important
consideration of the approval
process.
Other essential facts:
- Nearly
87 percent of animal antibiotics are used
therapeutically to keep animals healthy by
treating, preventing and controlling diseases.
The remaining 13 percent include compounds never
used in human therapy or used only topically in
people and not associated with resistance.
- While
there is no public data available on the amount
of antibiotics used in humans, companies that
make antibiotics for use in animals must report
to FDA annually the amount manufactured.
- The
Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) and strict
pre-market testing ensure that meat is safe as
it enters the food
supply.
The
FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM)
approves antibiotics for four
uses:
- Disease
Treatment:
To treat animals when they are clinically ill.
- Disease
Control:
To reduce the spread of diseases after an animal
is infected.
- Disease
Prevention:
To prevent disease among animals susceptible to
infections.
- Nutritional
Efficiency:
To promote overall well-being so animals can
grow more efficiently.
Food
animal antibiotic use and human
health:
There
is no conclusive scientific evidence that
antibiotics used in food animals have a
significant impact on the effectiveness of
antibiotics in people. Peer reviewed studies
suggest that over 95 percent of antibiotic
resistance concerns in human medicine are
unrelated to animal uses of antibiotics.
Research from the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC), FDA and the United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA) known as the
National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring
System, or NARMS, shows that resistance in
animal products and foodborne diseases is steady
or declining over the past several
years.
In fact, one recent Ohio
State University study found that
"antibiotic-free" pigs have a higher incidence
of diseases and parasites than those that
receive antibiotics.
In addition,
we know from the 1999 Denmark experience, where
certain antibiotics were banned from being used
in feed, that veterinarians have since been
forced to use antibiotics to treat the increased
outbreaks of sick animals. There is no clear
evidence that the ban has significantly
decreased antibiotic resistance in humans. In
fact, the 2007 Monitoring of Antimicrobial
Resistance and Antibiotic Usage in Animals
(MARAN) report from the Netherlands shows both
penicillin and tetracycline resistance in
Salmonella Typhimurium have increased in humans
since the country's ban, while resistance in the
United States has declined.
Data
from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention show levels of antibiotic-resistant
foodborne bacteria in humans are decreasing and
there has been a 23 percent drop in overall
foodborne illness since 1996. We must all
continue to work together to ensure food safety
and maintain the decrease in foodborne illness.
Removing important tools such as antibiotics
from pork producers makes this effort extremely
difficult.
Oklahoma
pork producers do the right
thing:
Farmers work hard
every day to produce safe, nutritious food for
their families and yours because we care about
doing the right thing. We know how important it
is to make certain our practices are
scientifically sound, so that the food we
produce is safe. We will continue to work with
our veterinarians to ensure our animal health
programs assure the responsible use of
antibiotics-because they are critical to protect
animal health and food safety. Arbitrary
prohibition of their use is not good for the
health and well-being of our animals and
therefore not good for the health and safety of
our food supply.
I have enclosed a
list of experts for you to contact should you
want further information about the current
science. Please feel free to contact me with
questions. We appreciate your interest and hope
you will contact us as a resource for any
attention you devote to this issue. We are proud
of the work we do and want to be part of this
ongoing
discussion.
Sincerely,
Roy Lee Lindsey, Jr.,
Executive Director, Oklahoma Pork
Council
405-232-3781
rllindsey@okpork.org
Experts
on Antibiotic Use in Food
Animals
Becky
Brewer, DVM
Oklahoma State
Veterinarian
405-521-3864
Tara Donovan, DVM
Director of Health
Services, Roberts Ranch of Oklahoma/The Hanor
Company
608-588-9627
Liz
Wagstrom, DVM, MS, DACVPM
Assistant Vice
President, Science and Technology, National Pork
Board
515-223-2633
Jennifer
Greiner, DVM, MS
Director of Science and
Technology, National Pork Producers Council
202-347-3600 |
