Health Action Alert: Keeping Antibiotics Working

An ongoing effort of mine is to fight the misuse of antibiotics. Misuse of antibiotics has been an increasing health hazard for people, leading to many strains of antibiotic resistant bacteria that infect, and sometimes kill, people, particularly children, the elderly and the immunocompromised. Last time I wrote about this I was able to report a victory in the fight to keep antibiotics effective. Today I want to introduce the latest fight.

First, for those who want more background, the Union of Concerned Scientists has an excellent rundown. An excerpt from their site:

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are on the rise. Patients once effectively treated for pneumonia, tuberculosis, or ear infections may now have to try three or more antibiotics before they find one that works. And as more bacterial strains develop resistance, more people will die because effective antibiotics are not identified quickly enough or because the bacteria causing the disease are resistant to all available antibiotics.

Why have bacterial strains become resistant? The short answer is overuse of antibiotics. Physicians and hospitals have overprescribed the drugs, and patients have demanded them—even for illnesses not caused by bacteria. Veterinarians, too, overprescribe drugs to treat sick animals.

It is livestock producers, however, who use the vast majority of antibiotics produced in the United States. An estimated 70 percent of antibiotics and related drugs produced in this country are used for nontherapeutic purposes such as accelerating animal growth and compensating for overcrowded and unsanitary conditions on large-scale confinement facilities known as "factory farms." This translates to about 25 million pounds of antibiotics and related drugs fed every year to livestock for nontherapeutic purposes—almost eight times the amount given to humans to treat disease.

Today I received an email from one of the frontline groups working to keep antibiotics effective, called, simply enough, Keep Antibiotics Working. Here is their email reporting the latest threat to our health:

Antibiotic resistance is a growing crisis in human medicine, and our health is put at unnecessary risk by the use of important human drugs in animal agriculture. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently considering an application by drug company Schering-Plough to allow an antibiotic called cefquinome to be used to treat cattle respiratory infections. Cefquinome is from the class of drugs known as “fourth-generation cephalosporins”—drugs that are highly valued in human medicine to treat life-threatening infections. Widespread use of cefquinome in cattle could drive human resistance to this critical class of drugs

Some animal drugs, such as cefquinome, are indiscriminately applied via injection to entire herds or flocks. Bacteria that are constantly exposed to antibiotics develop resistance to these drugs over time. When humans and animals get sick from resistant bacteria, the antibiotics prescribed will no longer work, resulting in life-threatening infections.

Keep Antibiotics Working is campaigning diligently to ensure that the FDA does not approve cefquinome. While FDA is dragging its feet, another way to stop this public health threat is for drug company Schering-Plough to pull its application for the approval of cefquinome. We need your help to urge Schering-Plough CEO Fred Hassan to pull its new animal drug application for cefquinome! Please sign our petition today!

You can also write or call Schering-Plough to voice your opinion:

Global Headquarters
Schering-Plough Corporation World Headquarters
2000 Galloping Hill Road
Kenilworth, N.J. 07033-0530
Telephone: (908) 298-4000

This is a very important issue and I hope you help us protect our health and the health of our children.