At a hearing of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Wednesday, July 14, 2010, a representative of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) finally caught up with the rest of the world -- and his peers at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) -- and admitted that the use of antibiotics in farm animal feed is contributing to the growing problem of deadly antibiotic resistance in America.
Dr. John Clifford, Deputy Administrator for Veterinary Services for the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) read from his previously submitted testimony that the USDA believes it is likely that U.S. use of antibiotics in animal agriculture does lead to some cases of resistance in humans and the animals.
Why is this news? Because the USDA has been continually playing the Three Wise Monkeys game -- it sees no evil, hears no evil and speaks no evil -- when it comes to deadly consequences to humans of the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in farm animals. In fact, Dr. Clifford looked as if he'd been given a choice between testifying or having his eye poked out with a stick and he lost the toss.
Others, though, readily stepped up to the plate. Despite the feeble nature of the recent FDA Guidance to Industry on farm animal antibiotics (read more about this in our blog), Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, Principle Deputy Commissioner of the FDA, was clear in his testimony that the overall weight of evidence supports the conclusion that using antibiotics for production purposes in livestock farming (as growth promoters and to prevent rather than treat illness) is not in the interest of protecting and promoting public health.
Dr. Sharfstein also turned away a challenge from Representative John Shimkus (R-IL 19) about the soundness of the science upon which his findings rest. Mr. Shimkus, obviously unhappy with Dr. Sharfstein's testimony, badgered him to come up with up a U.S. peer-reviewed study (which Dr. Sharfstein did -- a 2003 Institute of Medicine study) and then questioned the veracity of the findings. Dr. Sharfstein assured Mr. Shimkus that the Institute has a peer-review process in place and reminded him that "the Institute is considered our nation's leading scientific expert ... "
Dr. Ali Khan, Assistant Surgeon General and the Deputy Director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID), Center for Disease Control and Prevention, testified that there is unequivocal and compelling evidence that the use of antibiotics in farm animals leads to drug resistance that has an adverse impact on public health. He also faced questions from a visibly agitated Mr. Shimkus, who kept dismissing studies by the World Health Organization and others to request "real science," which, from his posturing, is evidently only that which supports Big Ag.
Mr. Shimkus played his role as Big Ag's Mouthpiece admirably. He questioned every statistic, slide, study, expert, institution, report or person cited that didn't agree with an antibiotic free-for-all in the farmyard. "So far there's nothing that links use in animals to a buildup of resistance in humans," he stated, recklessly ignoring all published science since 1968 and the testimony of the doctors his government has charged with protecting health, while making sure he gave Big Ag a clear, concise statement around which it can issue an indignant press release.
So let's recap -- the USDA, however grudgingly, is finally admitting the link between the use of subtherapeutic antibiotics in farm animal feed and human drug resistance; the FDA is impressed enough with the "weight of the evidence" to begin calling for changes in how antibiotics are used in farm animal production; and the CDC feels the evidence is "unequivocal and compelling," yet there are still those calling for "real science?"
Well how about the March 22, 2010, report from the Duke Infection Control Outreach Network that a superbug call C. difficile is multi-drug resistant and on the rise? Is that real science or should we conduct more studies and perhaps hold a few more hearings?
We don't need more hearings, we need action. H.R. 1549, Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act, continues to languish in committee while a few elected officials spend the taxpayer's time and money to pretend the science they are calling for doesn't already exist in mountains.
In the coming days, I expect that Big Ag will marshal their forces and come out with its own brand of science and experts to refute all testimony that threatens its profit margin. Of course, what I'm really waiting for is the day the Subcommittee calls on one of the dozens and dozens of AWA farmers to relate how changing from confined to pasture-based farming has eliminated the need for subtherapuetic and most therapeutic antibiotics because their animals and their farms are safe and healthy to begin with.
Artifical Hormones, hormone residue in meat - The Issues ...
Eat Right for Hormone Health :: Food and Nutrition :: Food Guides ...
Antibiotic Resistance: A Growing Threat
CDC - The Antibiotic Food-Chain Gang
Animal Antibiotic Overuse Hurting Humans? - CBS Evening News - CBS ...
More milk. More chickens. More pork. More beef. Just shoot 'em up with stuff. Make 'em grow faster. Make 'em grow fatter. More, more, more, more, greed, more, greed, more, greed, greed, greed. Forget about health. The big guys need more money and the Republicans are lining up to give it to them. De-regulate them. Trust them. They wouldn't let anything unsafe into the marketplace, would they? Of course not. They need money. More. Greed. More. Greed. More Greed. Bigger eggs. Bigger, plumper chickens. Who cares if everybody gets sick? Sick people help the pharmaceutical industry. Sick people help the healthcare industry. More Money. Greed. More Money. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More Money. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More Money. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More. More.
I agree with your pro-choice/over population comments as well.
Face it both parties are in the pockets of Monsanto, Big Pharma and Big Ag.
Until we quit the ReThuglican vs DemoRat crud, we are not going to get anywhere in fixing any major problem!
However it is the game they want us playing, so most will oblige them and continue fighting about if there is a "D" or and "R" after an individual's name instead of holding their feet to the fire to do what is correct!
I wonder who is actually running the USDA. Their coddling of the food and drug industries in this country is shameful. We need to demand that those industries stay out of our government agencies and they do their job of protecting us from those industries! The fox has been guarding the hen house for too long.
For years they were telling us that butter would kill you, but margarine was the smart choice for your health.
Then years after the evidence was in on the negative health effects of trans-fats, FDA finally admitted it to the ignorant masses that wouldn't believe anything until the Government says its so.
There is no doubt who runs FDA, USDA, EPA..., you name the agency of the Federal government, it is those with interests in the industries being regulated. Heck they pay huge sums of money to the DemoRats and ReThuglicans to allow their companies to write the rules and their ex-CEOs to head the agencies!
OUR BROKEN TOXICS LAW IS FAILING THEM.
WE NEED YOUR HELP TO CHANGE THAT.
EWG tested the umbilical cord blood of 10 newborn babies and found nearly 300 chemicals, including BPA, fire retardants, lead, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and pesticides that were banned more than 30 years ago.
Speak up for change. Our kids deserve it.
Bills to overhaul federal toxic chemicals policies are now moving through Congress. They would require that all chemicals be proven safe for children before they can be sold. Lawmakers in Washington need to know that you want strong reforms for our broken toxics law.
Please sign this petition to demand that Congress take action to make chemicals in consumer products kid-safe.
http://www.ewg.org/kid-safe-chemicals-act-blog/sign-petition-b/?utm_source=houseintrosign&utm_m
The first thing that will happen is grass roots issue advocacy groups will be shuttered. Because Move-On.org is as big as lot of the evil corporations and spends millions in lobbying activities. The Elitist Party, which its ReThuglican and DemoRatic wings will just strengthen their stranglehold on power.
If you want to purge special interests from controlling government, it needs to be done with law that penalize the politicians!
Perhaps take money from Big Pharm, and you can't vote on any bills that relate in any manner to issues that directly or indirectly relate to Big Pharm issues.
Then put some real teeth in the penalties for not reporting any gifts, or cash. How about life in prison, or better yet the death penalty for failure to report any contact with corporate leaders or lobbyists?
Wouldn't take long before corporations would find not benefit in buying a politician and stop dumping money into these corrupt arsehats.
This is a much quicker and surer way they having industry insiders write new regulations to "protect" us.
MRSA infections kill more Americans every year than AIDS. My three-year old nephew spent three weeks in intensive care while a MRSA infection literally ate him alive. This is a nightmare infection which can obviously be picked up anywhere (my nephew doesn't even attend daycare, yet still was infected). The government is allowing pork producers to create new and more virulent strains. My nephew survived, but somebody needs to do something about this because while we were lucky, others are not.
Disclaimer: I am a vegan and was vegan long before this incident or realizing the link between meat production and MRSA, but now everytime I see someone chowing down on a porkchop I am doubly discouraged. Thank you FDA and pork producers for almost killing my nephew and so many others. I would say that nature is taking its revenge on us, but having lived through this nightmare, no child should be an innocent victim for the greedy, selfish, gluttonous behavior of adults who in their hearts know what they are doing is wrong.
I found this post hard to believe, so I checked it out. The reality is that the USDA acknowledged this problem way back in 2001.
www.ers.usda.gov/publications/aib766/aib766.pdf
The folks who see this issue as Us Vs. Them are wrong. The idea that our government is plotting to undermine us is pretty crazy. I realize that many will disagree, and I would urge those folks to investigate the pharmaceuticals developed to combat paranoia.
The report you cite actually argues AGAINST regulation of antibiotics. The abstract states:
"as little as 10 percent of the problems of drug-resistant
pathogens in humans originate in livestock health care practices"
and
"This report
presents preliminary estimates suggesting that discontinuing the use of antimicrobial drugs
in hog production would initially decrease feed efficiency, raise feed costs, reduce produc-
tion, and raise prices to consumers. Longer term effects were not examined."
Gee, whose bread is being buttered here?
Your statements are foolish and wrong, neutralino.
These diseases were not nearly as common up until the first half of the twentieth century as they now are. You can graph and correlate the growth of them to the growth of factory farming (antibiotics and hormones), fast food chemicals, plastics and an assortment of other "modern" stuff.
In 2003, the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York tested healthy people and found over 160 industrial chemicals in their bodies: http://www.environmentalhealth.ca/fall07BodyBurden.html
This can't be a good thing. This comes from an increasingly polluted, manufactured world.
So what to do about it?
You have to take repsonsibility for minmizing exposure to all this stuff. Some ideas:
1. Have an air cleaner in your home
2. Eat as much organic food as you can, and if you can't afford all organic, know which foods are OK to eat that aren't ( The Dirty Dozen and Clean 15: http://www.garmaonhealth.com/2010/06/no-pesticide-food/ )
3. Do some detox cleansing: http://www.garmaonhealth.com/2010/01/detox-time/
4. Eat free range meats or none at all.
5. Exercise and sweat.
6. Stay positive... laugh.
My 2 cents.
Pesticides Found in Umbilical Cord Blood: http://www.beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/?p=3748
FDA urges less use of antimicrobials in food production: http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010/06/28/fda-urges-less-use-of-antimicrobials-in-food-production/
BPA present in most canned food: http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/18/bpa-present-in-most-canned-food-groups-allege/
How to limit your BPA exposure: http://www.gentlenurturing.com/gentle_nurturing_newsroom/bisphenol_a_in_your_home/how_to_limit_your_bpa_exposure_plus_healthy_alternatives/
BPA plastics chemical now linked to asthma: http://www.gentlenurturing.com/gentle_nurturing_newsroom/bisphenol_a_science_and_policy/bpa_plastics_chemical_now_linked_to_asthma/
Umbilical cord blood samples from 10 newborns and found the presence of 287 industrial chemicals: http://www.owningpink.com/blogs/owning-pink/jo-perron-chemicals-and-our-compromised-health
Cosmetics chems in teen and umbilical cord blood: http://www.ewg.org/kid-safe-chemicals-act-blog/2010/07/at-last-cosmetics-bill-introduced-in-the-house/”
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George Carlin had this country figured out and knew who owned who:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYIC0eZYEtI&feature=related
What George Carlin thought about politicians:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIraCchPDhk&feature=related
OF COURSE - those would be the never-bite-the-hand-that-feeds-you Republicans. The same "business before ethics or people" crowd that feels we're being too hard on BP and worked tirelessly for a weak Financial Reform bill for their cronies on Wall Street. How easy the little people are manipulated by all the Dick Cheneys of the GOBP who can simply say, "the science is sketchy" while having no authority to know that but people buy it.