Antibiotics in animal
USDA Farmline
News Service
WASHINGTON, D.C. - It’s been
called a hazard to human health,
and defended as a necessary
agricultural practice.
The issue is the use of antibiotics
in animal feed-not for treatment
of a diagnosed disease, but as a
regular part of the animal’s diet.
Added to poultry, hog, or cattle
feeds in low-dose, subtherapeutic
levels, certain antibiotics such as
penicillin and tetracycline are
effective in preventing disease and
promoting growth in animals.
Although widespread, the
practice has long been a con
troversial one, prompting a
number of scientific inquiries.
Some scientists have concluded
that the use of certain antibiotics in
animal feed can result in the
emergence of disease-causing
bacteria that are resistant to
antibiotics.
If spread to humans, say these
scientists, such strains of bacteria
could cause serious outbreaks of
infectious diseases-diseases that
would be difficult to treat quickly
and effectively with the antibiotics
available today.
But more questions are being
asked than can be answered, says
economist Clark Burbee of USDA’s
Economic Research Service.
Burbee says the available
research has provided no certain
conclusions. Some queries are
centered on the actual existence of
an animal-to-human link. Could
these resistant bacteria affect
anyone who eats improperly
prepared animal products-or
simply those who handle such
products or have physical contact
with livestock? Other questions
are more basic, focusing on
whether low-level antibiotic use in
animals can even promote growth
of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in
large numbers-and whether such
bacteria can be transmitted to and
survive in humans.
Antibiotics Battle Disease
The questions are important,
obviously, because of the major
reliance on antibiotics in the
treatment of life-threatening, as
wmmmmmmmmmatrn—
well as less dangerous, infectious
human diseases.
Penicillin and its derivatives
effectively combat a whole host of
infections-meningitis, certain
forms of pneumonia, strep and
staph infections, and some
venereal diseases. Other in
fections, such as those affecting
the urinary tract, the eye, and the
gastrointestinal tract, are ef
fectively treated with tetracycline,
says the Food and Drug Ad
ministration.
Penicillin and tetracycline are
also two of the most widely used
antibiotic feed additives, ac
cording to the Animal Health In
stitute, located in Arlington,
Virginia.
“Drugs are used in animals for
many of the same reasons they are
used in humans,” says Burbee.
“No one wants animals to be sick
or suffer, and it’s just bad
economics not to keep them as
healthy as possible. Antibiotics are
one tool to promote the efficient
growth of animals and to prevent
disease.”
He adds, however, that the
practice of adding antibiotics to
animal feed may have become too
routine, an excessively regular
practice in the industry.
“We may not need to feed as
much antibiotic today,” Burbee
says. Since such use started in the
early 1950’5, “livestock enjoy
better nutrition a'nd are produced
under much better sanitary con
ditions. Other chemical com
pounds have also come along that
serve growth promotion purposes
and can be substituted for an
tibiotics.”
The FDA Connection
In 1977, the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) proposed
regulations to prohibit the sub
therapeutic use of penicillin in
animal feeds and to restnct the use
of tetracyclines. The regulations
would also have imposed
restrictions on the distribution and
use of the remainmg applications
of penicillin and tetracycline.
Congress, however, directed FDA
to conduct further studies to
determine if a definite link could
feed: weighing risks and benefits
be established between antibiotic
use and human health. Some now
believe that link has been made
with the Holmberg study.
Several consumer and public
interest groups, citing the
Holmberg report, have pressed
particularly hard for a ban on
antibiotics in animal feed. Late
last year, the Natural Resources
Defense Council filed a petition
with the FDA seeking such a ban.
A hearing on the petition was held
in January, but no action was
taken.
For its part, FDA has been
conducting a comprehensive
review of the issue with an eye to
recommending whether or not
penicillin and tetracycline use
should be restricted. The agency
has commissioned several studies
on the matter.
FDA’s Center for Veterinary
Medicine will weigh these studies,
as well as other available data and
scientific literature published in
recent years. Its decision on what
action, if any, to take will probably
not be made before this summer.
Unless FDA declares certain
uses of penicillin and tetracycline
to be imminent health hazards,
proposals to ban ro restrict their
use could be contested for many
months under a federal review
process. Such regulations could
also be challenged in the courts.
Whether health concerns are
justified or not, banning the use of
antibiotic feed additives now could
cause a significant shakeup in the
livestock industry’s production
practices and the consumer
marketplace.
Rising Meat Prices
“Consumers would likely pay
slightly higher prices for smaller
supplies of meat,” says Bur bee.
“The practical effect of even a
partial ban would mean that it
would take longer to produce some
meat animals because they
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Value of antibacterial feed additives
in millions of dollars 1
300
100
1976 77 78 79 80 81 82 83
'Antibacterial feed additives include antibiotics and other
antibacterial agents
Source Animal Health Institute
wouldn’t grow as fast. Imports
would probably also increase,
which could dampen some of the
possible rise in prices. ’ ’
In addition, he says, the cost of
feed grains might go up because
animals would have to eat more to
gain the same amount of weight.
The availability of large excess
supplies of feed grains should keep
any rise to a minimal level.
“However, higher consumer
prices would more than offset
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farmers’ higher costs, and fan
income might actually go up,"
Burbee says.
He adds that “equilibrium u
prices would be reached in a yeai
or two, but at a higher level. High
now, animal producers an
presumably operating at a least
cost level because penicillin an
tetracycline are two of the cheap®
drugs available. But there an
substitutes, other antibiotics an
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