'The Human Race Is In Trouble' Now That The Post-Antibiotic Era Is On Our Doorstep

“We’re in the post-antibiotic era,” he said. “There are patients for whom we have no therapy, and we are literally in a position of having a patient in a bed who has an infection, something that five years ago even we could have treated, but now we can’t.”
Dr. Arjun Srinivasan- associate director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

Dangers of Antibiotic Resistance
Colds and many other upper respiratory infections, as well as some ear infections, are caused by viruses, not bacteria. If antibiotics are used too often for things they can’t treat—like colds or other viral infections—they can stop working effectively against bacteria when you or your child really needs them. Antibiotic resistance—when antibiotics can no longer cure bacterial infections—has been a concern for years and is considered one of the world’s most critical public health threats.
http://www.cdc.gov/features/getsmart/

“Superbugs” are not just for science fiction anymore. In American communities, large and small, antibiotic-resistant bacteria are ravaging hospitals and killing thousands of patients every year.” Sadly, the American health care system is largely responsible for this looming epidemic.”
Dr. David Lipschitz
https://www.creators.com/health/david-lipschitz-lifelong-health/overuse-of-antibiotics-a-boon-for-supergerms.html

Threat Report 2013
http://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/threat-report-2013/index.html

Why It’s Harmful to Overuse Them
http://kidshealth.org/parent/h1n1_center/h1n1_center_treatment/antibiotic_overuse.html

October 23, 2013
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama:
As representatives of the medical, public health, and sustainable agriculture communities, the undersigned organizations are writing to urge you to direct your Administration to take swift action to end antibiotic overuse and misuse in food animal production. Specifically, we ask that you direct the Office of Management and Budget to finalize Food and Drug Administration Guidance #213 and issue a proposed rule on the Veterinary Feed Directive this fall, in order to initiate the three-year phase-out of growth promotion and production-related uses of antibiotics, and to move to the necessary next steps as required to protect public health.

FDA recognized as early as 1977 that nontherapeutic uses of medically-important antibiotics in livestock feed threaten human health. Soon after antibiotics were discovered, producers of livestock and poultry began using drugs like penicillin and tetracycline as a matter of routine to spur animal growth rates and to enable crowding of animals and poultry to facilitate more efficient production. But, as Alexander Fleming warned, misuse and overuse of antibiotics only enables bacteria to become stronger and survive to reproduce. World health leaders issued strong warnings through the Swann Report in 1969 calling for an end to growth promoting uses. Since that time hundreds of peer-reviewed studies have been published that confirm the connection between drug use on the farm and superbugs in people.

Since FDA acknowledged the human health risk from antibiotic overuse in the 1970s, the call for action from the public health community and consumers has grown more urgent. This is why we appreciate the steps the Administration has taken to initiate new policies to address antibiotic overuse in agriculture. While we believe enforceable requirements are needed to guarantee an end to non-medically necessary uses of antibiotics in food animals, we recognize the potential for the guidance approach to benefit public health as long as certain fundamental principles are upheld: 1) it must clearly limit the use of antibiotics for disease prevention in animals to prevent misuse; and 2) it should include a plan to monitor and report to the public on progress in reducing antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance. We appreciate FDA’s careful consideration of these priorities and look forward to working with the agency to maximize the guidance’s benefits.

Please direct your administration to finalize a strong FDA Guidance #213 and propose a veterinary feed rule as soon as possible. Thank you again for your commitment to address the critical public health threat of antibiotic resistance. Your leadership can help save the effectiveness of antibiotics in treating dangerous human illnesses.

Sincerely,
Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics
American Academy of Pediatrics
American College of Preventive Medicine
American Nurses Association
American Osteopathic Association
American Public Health Association
Center for Food Safety
Center for Science in the Public Interest
Consumers Union
Environmental Working Group
First Focus Campaign for Children
Food & Water Watch
Food Animal Concerns Trust (FACT)
Health Care Without Harm
Healthy Food Action
Infectious Diseases Society of America
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Keep Antibiotics Working
League of United Latin American Citizens
March of Dimes
National Consumers League
National Research Center for Women & Families / Cancer Prevention and Treatment Fund
Natural Resources Defense Council
Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society
The Pew Charitable Trusts
Physicians for Social Responsibility
San Francisco Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility
Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists
Trust for America’s Health
Union of Concerned Scientists
http://www.pewhealth.org/other-resource/obama-administration-urged-to-restrict-antibiotic-overuse-85899514746

November 12, 2013
The Honorable Sylvia Matthews Burwell
Director, Office of Management and Budget
Executive Office of the President
725 17th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20503

Dear Director Burwell:
We are writing to urge you take swift action to curb unnecessary uses of medically-important antibiotics in food animal production. Specifically, we support prompt finalization of a strong Food and Drug Administration Guidance #213 ending antibiotic use for growth promotion and unnecessary disease prevention, as well as publication of rule proposals to expand veterinary oversight of in-feed antibiotic use and to collect data on antibiotic use in animal agriculture. We have more than enough scientific evidence to justify curbing the rampant use of antibiotics for livestock, and, as former FDA Commissioners, we appreciate that the Obama administration is poised to take significant action on this elusive public health challenge, even up against tremendous industry pressures.

We are convinced that feeding low doses of antibiotics to livestock and poultry is a recipe for disaster. The FDA first raised concerns about this practice in the 1970s when it proposed a rule that was thwarted by Congress. Since then, the antibiotic resistance crisis has only grown.

We recognize that we are facing what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and World Health Organization name a looming “catastrophe” of failing antibiotic treatments caused by overuse and misuse of antibiotics in both human medicine and agriculture. FDA reports now show that 80 percent of all antibiotics in the United States are being sold for use in farming–an increase over previous years. All segments of society should be part of the solution, especially that which uses the vast majority of the antibiotics.

The FDA issued a draft version of its policy in April 2012 and received public comments, as required, but the comment period closed over a year ago. Drugmakers have been left awaiting further instruction. The new guidelines cannot come soon enough. The FDA annually examines bacteria on retail meat and poultry, and each year the bugs show more resistance to antibiotics.

Moreover, several new studies using genetic analysis demonstrate with great precision the evolution and transmission of resistant pathogens not traditionally linked to food. Methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus is a troublesome new source of livestock-associated infections, and the E. coli that cause drug-resistant urinary tract infections can also be transmitted to people via food.

Action by the Obama administration would be an initial-and long-awaited-step to encourage livestock producers to stop relying on massive overuse of antibiotics to compensate for overcrowding, poor hygiene, and lax animal health management. This administration should finalize Guidance 213 and end antibiotic use for growth promotion and unnecessary disease prevention, tell the public how data will be collected to ensure that its voluntary strategy is working and then, if antibiotic misuse continues unabated, apply the full force of regulation. It should also require veterinarian oversight of antibiotic use in feed.

It has been 36 years since the FDA moved to restrict injudicious antibiotic practices that threatened the public’s health. It should not wait any longer to finish the job. You have our support to take the next step.

Sincerely,

Donald Kennedy, Ph.D.
Former Comrnisstoner
U.S. Food and Drug Administration

David Kessler, M.D.
Former Commissioner
U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Cc: Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D., Food and Drug Administration
http://www.pewhealth.org/other-resource/former-fda-heads-urge-white-house-to-fight-superbugs-curb-antibiotic-overuse-85899519554

Antibiotics: Misuse puts you and others at risk
Antibiotics can be lifesavers, but misuse has increased the number of drug-resistant germs.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/antibiotics/FL00075