''Overused Antibiotics are Becoming Ineffective''
"As a nation, we need to exercise greater care with our use of antibiotics, in both humans and animals, so that these medications remain effective in treating serious bacterial infections."
More infoMoms for Antibiotic Awareness February Newsletter (2012)
Sign our "We the People" Petition
Below is your February 2012 newsletter from Moms for Antibiotic Awareness. In this edition:
- Urgent Action Opportunity: Sign "We The People" Petition
- FDA Takes Measures to Preserve Effectiveness of Cephalosporins
- HHIF Staff Visits the CDC
Urgent Action Opportunity: Sign "We The People" Petition
As a reminder, we recently started a “We The People” petition to the White House asking the Obama Administration and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to keep their promise to limit the injudicious uses of antibiotics in food animal production. Once we reach our goal of 25,000 signatures in 30 days the White House will respond. We can do this! In the first week, we gathered more than 5,500 signatures and we only have until March 16 to reach our goal!
Our petition is an effective way to demonstrate to the Obama Administration that there is great concern across the country about the misuse and overuse of antibiotics in industrial farming and that action must be taken to protect these life-saving drugs. As a reminder, FDA proposed new guidelines on appropriate antibiotic use in food animal production almost two years ago, but their target date to finalize their plan—June 2011—has come and gone. With antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections on the rise, we need the White House and the FDA to take action now.
Take action here by signing our petition. The process only takes a few minutes. And please pass word along to your friends—we only have until March 16 to reach 25,000 signatures!
FDA Takes Measures to Preserve Effectiveness of Cephalosporins
As mentioned in last month’s newsletter, the FDA issued an updated rule that will limit the uses of cephalosporins in food animal production. This restriction is a victory for human health as it will help ensure this critically important class of antibiotics will continue to work to treat life-threatening infections today and in the future.
This is not the first time the FDA has taken steps toward eliminating uses of cephalosporins on industrial farms. In 2008, the agency tried and failed to take similar action. That is why it is so important for the FDA to hear from the American people—those who rely on cephalosporins and other antibiotics to treat life-threatening infections.
If you have not done so already, please take a moment and tell the FDA to finalize the cephalosporin rule to keep these critical drugs protected from overuse and misuse on industrial farms.
HHIF Staff Visits CDC
On February 2, three HHIF staff members visited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to discuss important antibiotic resistance issues, and were given a tour of their National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) labs.
Read more...Download the PDF for the full newsletter.
- Date added:
- Feb 28, 2012
- Contact:
- Joshua Wenderoff, Tel: work202-540-6542
- Project:
- Moms for Antibiotic Awareness
- Topic:
- Antibiotics in Food Animal Production
- Related Experts:
- Laura Rogers, Gail Hansen
Related Resources
''It is Vital That We Monitor Antibiotic Use in Livestock''
It used to be easy to treat healthy children with common bacterial infections; a regimen of antibiotic pills could usually wipe out the disease. Today, patients might need to go home on intravenous antibiotics because oral therapies will no longer work. Antibiotic resistance is to blame.
More info''Lewiston Woman Sickened by Ground Beef Rallies Against Antibiotics in Meat''
A past bout of salmonella led Maine resident Danielle Wadsworth to travel to Washington, D.C. this week to argue for stronger regulations to curtail the use of antibiotics in livestock farming. She took part Wednesday in "Supermoms Against Superbugs," an initiative of the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming.
More info''Nashville Voices Take Concerns About Antibiotic Resistance to Washington''
Dr. Cecilia Di Pentima is in Washington, D.C., for “Supermoms against Superbugs” to push for laws to curtail the use of antibiotics in livestock farming — one of many fronts in the battle to preserve the effectiveness of the medicines. Family physicians in the South, including Tennessee, have also been identified as inadvertent purveyors of drug-resistant bacteria by prescribing too many antibiotics.
More infoAntibiotics and Industrial Farming 101
Each year, tens of thousands of Americans die and hundreds of thousands are hospitalized because of bacterial infections resistant to antibiotics. Antibiotic overuse on industrial farms is a big part of the problem. The largest U.S. meat and poultry producers feed antibiotics to healthy animals over much of their lives to make them grow faster and to compensate for the overcrowded and unsanitary conditions in which they are bred and slaughtered.
More info
