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Animal antibiotic bill introduced

Legislation that would, according to its sponsors, better monitor antibiotic use in food animals has been introduced in the U.S. House.

Representatives Louise Slaughter of New York and Henry Waxman of California introduced the bill. They say it would require drug manufacturers to provide better information to the FDA on how their drugs are used in food animals and improve the timing and quality of data the FDA releases. It will also require large-scale producers of poultry, swine and livestock to submit data to FDA detailing the type and amount of antibiotics contained in animal feed.

Slaughter, a frequent critic of antibiotic use in food animals, warns that America is “on the cusp of a monumental public health crisis…the end of antibiotics as a tool for fighting disease”.  Slaughter believes that antibiotic residue in meat is causing antibiotic resistance in humans.