U.S. Lays Out Strategy to Combat Crisis of Antibiotic Resistance - NYTimes.com
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/19/health/us-lays-out-strategy-to-combat-crisis-of-antibiotic-resistance.html
One point of contention has been the extent to which industrial-scale animal farming contributes to antibiotic-resistant infections in humans. The government has estimated that more than 70 percent of antibiotics in the United States are given to animals. Companies use them to prevent sickness when animals are packed together in ways that breed infection. They also use them to make animals grow faster, though the Food and Drug Administration has taken steps that it says will stop that.
But many advocates remain skeptical that the agency’s actions will be effective, because they rely on voluntary action from industry, and some were disappointed that the efforts outlined on Thursday did not call for more.
“The report recommends a wait-and-see attitude on reducing antibiotic use in food animals,” the advocacy group Keep Antibiotics Working said in a statement. “Waiting for an agency that has failed for over 40 years to take action on the overuse of antibiotics in livestock feed is not a wise strategy.”