Source:  MEATINGPLACE.COM, 2/11/10

Veterinarians and antibiotics experts found plenty to disagree with in a CBS Evening News report on the potential threat to human health from the use of antibiotics in farm animals.

In the report, which aired this week, anchor Katie Couric raised the specter that overuse of antibiotics in livestock to promote growth and prevent disease may pose a threat to the health of Americans by leading to the creation of new strains of drug-resistant bacteria such as MRSA.

"It was rather short on facts and science and long on speculation," said Dr. Richard Carnevale, a veterinarian and vice president of the Animal Health Institute.

The CBS story failed to put into perspective that the serious problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria being on the rise in hospitals has little to do with animals, said Carnevale, who was among a panel of experts who participated in a media briefing organized in response to the CBS News report. The form of MRSA that is putting humans at risk is not the same strain found in animals, he noted.

While the CBS report quoted a Food and Drug Administration official saying more safeguards and surveillance are needed to prevent inappropriate use of antibiotics in farm animals, the panel who spoke on the media briefing said only FDA-approved antibiotics are used in livestock at risk of disease, and their use is properly monitored.

Dr. Liz Wagstrom, assistant vice president of science and technology for the National Pork Board, said her group promotes on-farm assessments that involve veterinarians in the decision-making process for antibiotic use in at-risk animals.

"The data show resistance is declining, not increasing, due to the progressive actions of the industry," Wagstrom said.

The risk to human health from antibiotic use in animals is small, and those who are concerned about a potential link are only looking at one piece in the causal chain instead of the many steps involved between the farm and the fork, said Dr. Scott Hurd, senior epidemiologist at Iowa State University's College of Veterinary Medicine.

"The problem is if we ban all these antibiotics, there's not going to be any improvement in animal health," said Hurd, who is the former deputy undersecretary for food safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "You end up with more human illness days when you ban antibiotics."

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