Tag: antibiotic
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Study Claims Honeybee Gut Bacteria “Perturbed” by Antibiotics
A study has purportedly suggested that antibiotic treatments for foulbrood and other pathogens can disrupt the gut microbiota of honeybees, increasing their susceptibility to opportunistic bacterial infections. Kasie Raymann, et al., “Antibiotic exposure perturbs the gut microbiota and elevates mortality in honeybees,” PLoS Biology, March 2017. To examine the effects of common bee antibiotics, University…
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FSIS Clarifies Guidelines on Substantiating Animal Raising Claims
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has updated its guidelines on the documentation needed to support animal-raising labeling claims, which include “Raised Without Antibiotics,” “Organic,” “Grass-Fed,” “Free-Range” and “Raised with the use of hormones.” Among other things, the agency requires the following information to support such claims: (i) “a detailed…
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NRDC, CSPI File Citizen Petition on Antibiotic Use in Livestock
Several consumer-protection groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), have filed a citizen petition with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) urging the agency to withdraw approval of seven antibiotics for disease prevention and growth-promotion use in livestock and poultry. “The use of…
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U.S. Food System’s Impact on Public Health Focus of Georgetown Law Event
Government agency leaders, industry representatives, academics and public health advocates will gather in Washington, D.C., on June 3 for “Vote Food 2016: Better Food, Better Health.” Organized by the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at the Georgetown University Law Center, event sessions will target the next president’s food agenda, antibiotic resistance in…
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FDA Report Indicates Rising Use of Antibiotics in Food-Producing Animals
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published its annual report of sales and distribution data for antimicrobial drugs used in food-producing animals. The report’s analysis of 2014 statistics and observed trends of rising antibiotic use immediately drew the ire of consumer advocacy coalition Keep Antibiotics Working (KAW). “The data released today shows us…
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California Governor Approves Measure Limiting Use of Livestock Antibiotics
California Governor Jerry Brown (D) has signed legislation (S.B. 27) that prohibits administration of a “medically important antimicrobial drug to livestock solely for purposes of promoting weight gain or improving feed efficiency” as of January 1, 2018. Under the statute, antibiotics may be used only when ordered by a licensed veterinarian through a prescription or…
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Appellate Court Orders Chile to Release Data About Antibiotic Use in Salmon
A Chilean appellate court has ruled that the nation’s National Fisheries and Agricultural Services must issue its data about antibiotics in Chilean salmon, which revealed that 50 salmon firms jointly used 450.7 metric tons of antibiotics in 2013. Chile’s Council for Transparency previously refused to release the information to conservation organization Oceana, arguing that the…
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Senators Question Agencies’ Lack of Action on Animal Antibiotic Use
U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have authored an August 17, 2015, letter expressing concern that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Defense have not yet responded to an executive order establishing a Presidential Advisory Council on Combatting Antibiotic-Resistant…