Source: Chris Scott, MEATINGPLACE, 7/25/18



USDA officials reportedly are developing alternative options to efforts by the World Health Organization (WHO) to limit the use of antibiotics in animals being raised for food.

The WHO recommendations released last November proposed ending the use of medically important antibiotics in healthy animals in order to promote growth or prevent disease. The agency suggested that the drugs be limited to sick animals or healthy animals being raised near the affected animals. WHO also promoted a ban on using antibiotics in animals that are used to treat humans, in an effort to help preserve the effectiveness of the drugs in humans.

USDA, however, rejected the WHO findings developed after two years of research by scientists and veterinarians and now contends that USDA should have had a greater role in developing the policies, according to a report by Bloomberg. USDA Acting Chief Scientist Chavonda Jacobs-Young called the WHO recommendations “not in alignment with U.S. policy and not supported by sound science” in a statement upon their release last fall.

U.S. officials currently are involved in a working group that is developing guidelines that are weaker than the WHO recommendations, according to the Bloomberg report. A draft of the guidelines for farmers and the WHO-related agency Codex Alimentarius allows antibiotics to be used in healthy animals to prevent disease and offers the potential for use to promote animal growth, which currently is illegal under U.S. law, the report added. Codex offers standards for international trade to ensure food safety and quality, which are implemented by specific member nations, rather than more general guidelines released by WHO, the report said.

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