Beginning in January 2017, revised Veterinary Feed Directive regulations by the US’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will reduce use of antimicrobials in animals. Specifically, the new rules will make it illegal to use any antimicrobial drug that is medically important to humans for growth or to improve feed efficiency in animals. Use of these drugs to treat, control or prevent diseases in animals will need veterinarian oversight.
The regulations are being put in place to try and limit the problem of resistance in pathogens to antimicrobial drugs, which renders the drugs ineffective and puts lives in danger. The issue of antimicrobial resistance is currently under the spotlight, as a meeting at the United Nations’ General Assembly gets under way on 21st September to try and tackle the development of the superbugs.
It is only the fourth time in the history of the UN that a health topic has been discussed at the General Assembly, showing the seriousness of the situation.
Juan Lubroth, chief veterinary officer for the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, says blaming any one group for the problem of antimicrobial resistance, such as farm animals, is a mistake. “The bug doesn’t know if it’s in a human, a horse or a cow,” Mr Lubroth said.
However, the organisation recognised the need to reduce the use of antibiotics in all areas, as limiting use of antibiotics is the fastest and most reliable way to prevent antimicrobial resistance getting worse.
The US’s new rules should help reduce antibiotic use in agriculture and therefore should contribute to reducing the development of resistant disease-causing microbes, but there have been concerns about the implementation of the regulations.
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