Antibiotics

Warns of Continuing Food Safety Issues

October 7, 2009 -- Congresswoman Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY), chair of the House Rules Committee, today spoke on the House floor to encourage members to support her legislation ending the overuse of antibiotics for livestock. Slaughter’s also warned that American farmers risk losing access to overseas markets unless we can reassure other countries that our agriculture products are safe.

Below is a copy of her remarks, delivered on the House floor this morning during the debate on the Agriculture Appropriations conference report:    » read more »

If you have a cold, or the flu, antibiotics won't work for you

Pharmacists around the nation are joining the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to educate consumers about the appropriate use of antibiotics during this influenza season. Antibiotics are intended to treat bacterial infections, not viruses like the flu. The CDC is observing the second annual Get Smart About Antibiotics Week October 5-11, 2009.

The Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work program reaches parents, pharmacists and health care providers through print advertisements, fact sheets, brochures, posters, radio and print public service announcements, podcasts, and mainstream media interviews.    » read more »

Bill Shields Doctors in Treatment of Lyme Disease

June 22, 2009 -- Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell today announced she has signed a bill allowing doctors to prescribe long-term antibiotics in the treatment of persistent Lyme disease – outside of standard guidelines – without fear of sanctions from state health regulators if the patient’s clinical diagnosis of the tick-borne disease and treatment have been documented by a licensed physician.    » read more »

Washington, DC - 03/17/2009 - Nearly one year after the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production released its landmark recommendations on how America should reform the way food animals are raised, U.S. Representative Louise Slaughter today introduced the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act of 2009 (PAMTA). The bill amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to withdraw the use of seven classes of antibiotics vitally important to human health from use on factory farms unless animals or herds are sick with disease.    » read more »

Legislation Would Protect Critical Antibiotics for Human and Animal Medicine

WASHINGTON (March 17, 2009) — Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) introduced legislation today that would curtail the overuse of antibiotics in food animal production and help protect the efficacy of the small number of existing, lifesaving antibiotics. More than 350 groups have endorsed the legislation, including the American Medical Association.    » read more »

Statement by Dr. Margaret Mellon, Union of Concerned Scientists

WASHINGTON (June 19, 2007)—Tyson Foods, the nation's largest producer of chicken, announced today that it has begun to produce all of its fresh chicken free of antibiotics and is selling the chicken in grocery stores under a "Raised Without Antibiotics" label.

Below is a statement by Margaret Mellon, director of the Food and Environment Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS):    » read more »