Resolution supporting a statewide and national ban on nontherapeutic uses of antibiotics in livestock production and calling upon the United States Congress to pass and the President to sign the Preventing Antibiotic Resistance Act (S. 1256) and the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (H.R. 1150).
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Whereas, Seventy-three percent of all antibiotics sold in the United States (U.S.) are used in livestock production, according to the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming; and
Whereas, A majority of antibiotics given to livestock are being used irresponsibly, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); and
Whereas, Antibiotics are routinely fed to livestock for growth promotion and to avoid diseases caused by overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, a practice known as "non-therapeutic use"; and the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics creates ideal conditions for the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria; and
Whereas, The American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and other leading scientists and medical experts warn that the widespread, excessive, and inappropriate use of these drugs in food animals increases the likelihood that bacteria will become resistant to antibiotics; and
Whereas, Doctors are treating an increasing number of bacterial infections in humans that fail to respond to routine antibiotic treatment, according to the CDC; and
Whereas, The CDC found that Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, commonly known as MRSA, infected approximately 80,500 people and killed over 11,000 in the United States in 2011; and
Whereas, Antibiotic resistant bacteria have caused several food-borne illness outbreaks, including a 2011 outbreak of antibiotic-resistant salmonella that led to one of the largest meat recalls in United States Department of Agriculture history; and
Whereas, The CDC estimates that in the U.S., more than two million people fall ill every year with antibiotic-resistant infections, with 23,000 Americans dying from those infections; and
Whereas, The issue of antibiotic resistance is of particular concern for children, who, according to the CDC, have both the highest rates of antibiotic use and the highest rates of infections caused by antibiotic resistant pathogens; and
Whereas, Antibiotic resistant infections can require prolonged and more costly treatments, extended hospital stays, and result in greater disability and higher death rates compared with infections that are easily treatable with antibiotics; and
Whereas, A 2009 article in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases concluded that the combined hospital and societal costs from patients with antibiotic-resistant infections at just one hospital amounted to more than $13 million in one year; and
Whereas, The CDC deemed the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics to promote livestock growth unnecessary and recommends phasing out the practice; and
Whereas, Two bills are currently before Congress, the Preventing Antibiotic Resistance Act (S. 1256) and the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (H.R. 1150), that would prohibit the nontherapeutic feeding of medically important antibiotics to livestock and would withdraw Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of antibiotics for non-therapeutic use, unless the manufacturer can demonstrate such use will not harm human health due to antibiotic resistance; and
Whereas, More than 375 public, consumer and environmental health groups, including the American Medical Association, the American Public Health Association, the World Health Organization, the Infectious Disease Society of America, and Food & Water Watch support the legislation; and
Whereas, On December 11, 2013, the FDA announced that animal pharmaceutical companies will work with the agency to voluntarily remove growth enhancement and feed efficiency indications from the approved uses of their medically important antimicrobial drug products, and require veterinary oversight for the therapeutic uses of these drugs rather than over-the-counter availability; and
Whereas, The efforts by the FDA to phase out the irresponsible use of antibiotics in livestock is admirable but is completely voluntary and does not go far enough to prevent the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the New York City Council supports a statewide and national ban on nontherapeutic uses of antibiotics in livestock production and calls upon the United States Congress to pass and the President to sign the Preventing Antibiotic Resistance Act (S. 1256) and the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (H.R. 1150).
CP
LS 1781
6/13/14
Please do all you can to pass this legislation. This issue -the use of antibiotics - is spinning out of control. Doctors refuse antibiotics to people who may or may not have bacterial infections and refuse to do cultures to determine if a bacteria is causing the illness. The legislation will be an important first step in resolving this difficult issue, one of many that non-theraputic antibiotics for livestock has created..