USA: launch of bill banning antibiotics

Democratic representative Louise Slaughter (NY) has introduced a bill in US Congress that will seek the withdrawal of antibiotics important to human health from use on farms unless animals are sick.

The reintroduction of the bill comes nearly one year after the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production recommended that America reform the way food animals are raised – the bill is known as the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act of 2009 (PAMTA).

Several medical experts have agreed that the use of antibiotics in livestock farming contributes to a rise in antibiotic-resistant infections in people. In the EU, for that reason, antibiotic growth promoters have already been banned as from January 1, 2007.

A number of organisations have teamed up to contain the numbers of antibiotics used in animal feed, among which the Pew Campaign, the American Medical Association, the World Health Organization, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. To learn more, click here.