Antibiotic use in Animals

[cakadu]

I found the following posted on the AnimalNet Website that is produced by the University of Guelph.

ANTIBIOTIC FEARS REQUIRE RESPONSE
October 22, 2001
The Edmonton Journal
A10
According to this editorial, the latest studies in the New England Journal
of Medicine, in which antibiotic-resistant salmonella was found in ground
meat and poultry, underlines the urgency of determining just how much danger
the use of antibiotics in farm animals poses to humans.
The World Health Authority has already called for a ban on antibiotics used
to fatten livestock. Organizations like the American Medical Association
warn that overuse of the drugs is breeding antibiotic-resistant bacteria
that could leave people defenceless. The European Union has banned the use
of antibiotics to boost growth or protect healthy livestock, allowing their
use only to treat sick animals.
The editorial says that scientific evidence and public opinion are mounting
to justify stricter controls on the use of antibiotics in pigs, chickens and
cattle.
Health Canada and the agriculture industry need to respond positively and
promptly.
Both Health Canada and its big brother, the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration, say they're working on the problem. Health Canada says
certain drugs like erythromycin, that once were used to fatten farm animals,
are no longer allowed to be put in animal feed. The FDA has talked about a
drug-by-drug review to decide whether any should be withdrawn from use in
animals.
The editorial concludes that producing food that is demonstrably healthy and
safe has become a market advantage, particularly for overseas sales. We need
to keep that Canadian advantage.

How do you feel about the comments being made here?

[nakodo]

I guess my concern is the impact of trace amounts, it has been shown that Seattle has higher caffine levels in treated sewage water flowing out of the treatment plants into the ocean.

Can meat provide enough residues of antibiotics (cumulative long term consumption of meat that is treated) is a concern.

A larger concern is the widespread repetative use of a "cure" that causes the treated organism to evolve into a resistant form. Antibiotic resistant bacteria thrive in hospitals where the people least able to fight their effects provide perfect hosts. Roundup resistant weeds and 2-4-6 resistance, dicamba resistance are all documented.

A rotating regime of very different families of treatments needs to be utilized the same way pesticide rotation needs to be utilized to catch the resitant ones with a whole new class of treatment every few years or so.

General treatment of herd or flocks with the same drug year in year out is not a good management practise, it is a lazy management practise done for economic reasons not for herd or flock health.

[cakadu]

A further article on this appears on Animal Net and comes from the New York Times. Cipro is manufactured for humans by Bayer A.G. and the animal/poultry equivalent is Baytril. Both of these drugs are in the family of Fluoroquinolones, which are currently one of the most potent antibiotics we have. There is such a huge chance of resistance by mutating strains of bacteria, I wonder how long we will consider "acceptable" to incorrectly use antibiotics.

I agree that good animal husbandry begins with looking at the whole picture, not just treating symptoms. The more animals and birds we cram into a certain sized space, the greater the likelihood of disease outbreaks. How long before it all caves in on us?

[nakodo]

and now people in Canada are getting their doctors to prescribe these drugs for them. I expect they are not just hoarding them, but taking them when they get a cold or the sniffles "just in case it is anthrax".

Further running the risk of antibiotic resistance!