Did FDA Allow Use of 'High-Risk' Antibiotics in Meat Industry?

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) recently released a document from the FDA that shows how the agency allowed "high-risk" antibiotic use on the market as food additives to farm animals.

"FDA continues to knowingly allow the use of drugs in animal feed that likely pose a 'high risk' to human health," Carmen Cordova, NRDC microbiologist and lead author of the report, said in a statement. "That's a breach of their responsibility and the public trust."

According to NPR, the drugs in livestock exposure put humans at a greater risk  for antibiotic resistant bacteria via the food supply. The reviews for the antibiotics were conducted by the FDA between 2001 and 2010. Since then, the NRDC has called 18 of the drugs "high risk." However, the warnings have been ignored, according to Cordova.

Though farmers may sometimes give animals low doses of antibiotics in order to help them grow more quickly, health officials note that this can lead to drug-resistant bacteria in the animals, that may ultimately infect people with dangerous microbes.

At this time, the FDA is working to phase out the use of non-therapeutic drugs that make animals grow faster. However, it may not be happening fast enough, according to senior officer at Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming, Gail Hansen.

"NRDC's report reveals that millions of pounds of antibiotics are being fed to livestock without meeting FDA's modern, or even 40-year-old, safety standards," she said, according to NPR. "That underscores just how important it is that FDA gets its new policy right and holds companies to their commitment to comply with it."

The Food Poisoning Bulletin notes that the FDA has recently appealed court orders from NRDC litigation, with a decision from the 2^nd Circuit Court of Appeals expected later this year.