Newly Disclosed Documents Show FDA Allows Livestock Antibiotics Use Despite “High Risk” to Humans
FDA’s own Review of Livestock Antibiotics Support Federal Court Decision Ordering Agency to Initiate Process to Pull Drugs from Market
WASHINGTON (January 27, 2014) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) quietly allowed 30 potentially harmful antibiotics, including 18 rated as "high risk," to remain on the market as additives in farm animal feed and water – despite an internal review that raised significant red flags, according to agency records obtained by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The data show the use of these drugs in livestock likely exposes humans to antibiotic resistant bacteria through the food supply. FDA’s scientific reviews of these antibiotics occurred between 2001 and 2010, yet the drugs remain approved and, in many cases, on the market for use in industrial animal agriculture operations.
This information was released through the Freedom of Information Act. not though the generosity of the FDA.
Read more at: http://www.nrdc.org/media/2014/140127a.asp
