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A number of professional organizations and governmental entities have taken
stances on the use of antibiotics in agriculture.
Over 300 groups, including the American Medical Association
and the American Public Health Association, have endorsed the Preservation of
Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act, a bill that would phase out the
routine feeding of medically important antibiotics to healthy farm animals. This
year's bill is summarized here , and additional policy statements are
below. If your organization would like to endorse, or would like more
information, contact Jenn Palembas.
Ambulatory Pediatric Association
Policy on Clinical and Environmental Factors Contributing to
Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria, May-June 2002
Concludes that the
inappropriate use of antibiotics in clinical medicine and in raising livestock
contributes to the development and spread of antibiotic-resistant organisms;
proposes to raise awareness among pediatricians, families, public health
programs and policy-makers regarding the problem of environmental factors
contributing to antibiotic resistance and to develop strategies to reduce or
eliminate the further growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria
American College of Preventive Medicine
Statement on Use of Antimicrobials in Food Animals, March
2000
Recommends the discontinuation of antimicrobials used to promote the
growth of food animals if they are also used in human medicine
American Medical Association
Resolution 508 - Antimicrobial Use and Resistance, Annual
Meeting 2001
Opposes the use of antimicrobials at non-therapeutic levels in
agriculture; urges that non-therapeutic use in animals of antimicrobials also
used in humans be terminated or phased out based on scientifically sound risk
assessments
American Medical Student Association
PRINCIPLES REGARDING FOOD AND NUTRITION, 2005
Urges the phase-out of all non-therapeutic uses of medically important antibiotics in animal agriculture, unless the Food and Drug Administration concludes that continued use of a drug will not contribute to resistance affecting humans.
American Nurses Association
Resolution on the Inappropriate Use of Antimicrobials in Agriculture, June 2004
Urges Congress, meat and poultry producers, and bulk purchasers of meat to promptly phase out the nontherapeutic use of medically important antibiotics and all use of Cipro-like fluoroquinolones in poultry.
American Public Health Association
Helping Preserve Antibiotic Effectiveness by Stimulating Demand for Meats Produced Without Excessive Antibiotics Policy, November 2004
This policy reaffirms APHA Resolution 9908 and advocates for purchase of meat produced without nontherapeutic use of medically important antibiotics.
Interim Policy, LB-00-5
Addressing the Use of
Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics in Agriculture, November 15, 2000
Supports the
FDA's proposed ban on use of fluoroquinolones in poultry
Policy Number 9908
Addressing the Problem of Bacterial
Resistance to Antimicrobial Agents and the Need for Surveillance, January 1,
1999
Urges the FDA to work for regulations eliminating the non-medical use
of antibiotics and limiting the use of antibiotics in animal feeds
California Medical Association
Countering Bacterial Resistance from Antimicrobial Overuse,
March 2001
Opposes the use of antimicrobials used in human medicine at
sub-therapeutic levels in agriculture; urges that agricultural use of
antibiotics be limited to veterinary prescription
Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists
Position Statement 1999-ID 7
Discontinuation of
antimicrobials used to promote growth of food animals if they are used in or
select for cross resistance to antimicrobials used in human therapy
Recommends the discontinuation of antimicrobials used to promote the growth
of food animals if they are also used in human medicine
Health Care Without Harm
Health
Care Without Harm (HCWH), an international coalition
of hospitals, other health-care facilities and organizations
working to reduce environmental health impacts of the health
care system, recently adopted a policy
statement that encourages their members and other
insitutions to purchase meat, fish, and dairy products produced
without the routine non-therapeutic use of antibiotics.
HCWH also created a number of purchasing guides to help their members
and others in implementing these practices.
Infectious Diseases Society of America
IDSA Summary of Existing Policy on the Use of Antimicrobial Drugs in Food Animals, November 2009. IDSA supports efforts to phase out the use of antimicrobial drugs for growth promotion, feed efficiency, and routine disease prevention in food animals, and to require that all other uses of these drugs, which are highly valued in human medicine, be carried out under the supervision of a veterinarian and within the boundaries of a valid veterinarian-client-patient relationship. For this reason, IDSA has endorsed both the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (H.R. 1549 and S. 619) and the Food and Drug Administration’s recently articulated “public health approach” to antimicrobial use in animals.
Minnesota Medical Association
Recommends that the MMA oppose the use of antimicrobials used
in human medicine at less than therapeutic levels in agriculture, or as
pesticides or growth promoters
National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians, Inc.
Position Statement 1999-ID 7
Discontinuation of
antimicrobials used to promote growth of food animals if they are used in or
select for cross resistance to antimicrobials used in human therapy
Recommends the discontinuation of antimicrobials used to promote the growth
of food animals if they are also used in human medicine
World Health Organization
Global Principles for the Containment of Antimicrobial Resistance
in Animals Intended for Food, June 2000
Recommendations include
termination or rapid phasing-out of the use of antimicrobials for growth
promotion if they are also used for treatment of humans in the absence of a
public health safety evaluation and obligatory prescriptions for all
antimicrobials used for disease control in food animals
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