NRDC: Loophole would promote irresponsible antibiotics use
At the White House’s Forum on Antibiotic Stewardship, the Administration released a new memorandum directing federal agencies to create a preference for meat and poultry produced according to responsible antibiotic-use.
Mae Wu, health attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), issued the following statement:
‘For the first time, the federal government is flexing its considerable purchasing power muscle to help build the market for meat and poultry produced with the so-called ‘˜responsible’ use of antibiotics.
‘But to truly eliminate the routine use of antibiotics in animals that are not sick, the federal government should do more to ensure that antibiotics are used to only treat sick animals and control disease outbreaks. The federal policy should halt all routine use of medically-important antibiotics, not just one category of routine use.
‘Our government leaders at all levels should close this problematic loophole that allows industry to misuse our precious life-saving drugs at the expense of our health.
posted by Andrea Gonzalez 6/4/15
