Sunday, March 04, 2007

FDA to Ignore Cow Drug Warnings

This is a serious breach of the public good, all for short term profit.

This drug is one of the last lines of defense against antibiotic resistant bacteria (super-bugs). It is the overuse of antibiotics that has led to the evolution of super-bugs and the largest abuse of these drugs is in the livestock industry. Thisapproval process should be put to a halt as soon as possible.

At a minimum, antibiotics approved for use in the livestock industry should not be ones that are presently our last lines of defense.

The government is on track to approve a new antibiotic to treat a pneumonia-like disease in cattle, despite warnings from health groups and a majority of the agency's own expert advisers that the decision will be dangerous for people.

In the mid-1990s, overriding the objections of public health experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the drug agency approved the marketing of two drugs, Baytril and SaraFlox, for use in poultry
Before long, doctors began finding fluoroquinolone-resistant strains of campylobacter in patients hospitalized with severe diarrhea. When studies showed a link to poultry, the FDA sought a ban. But while Abbott Laboratories, which made SaraFlox, pulled its product, Baytril's manufacturer, Bayer Corp., pushed back.

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