From: mark_hoffman@notes.teradyne.com Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2001 5:11 PM To: EXECSEC Subject: Start A National Antibiotic-Use Reporting System Now: Dr. Henney, Overuse of antibiotics is something that personally concerns me. Please follow the advice from UCS. They have a good understanding of these complex issues and I agree with them. Mark ---------------------- Forwarded by Mark Hoffman/Bos/Teradyne on 01/09/2001 05:09 PM --------------------------- "Steve Fondriest" on 01/09/2001 05:02:18 PM To: cc: Subject: Start A National Antibiotic-Use Reporting System Now: ********** UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTIST ********** ACTION ALERT January 9, 2001 Start A National Antibiotic-Use Reporting System Now: ISSUE: The overuse of antibiotics in agriculture is contributing to the emergence of untreatable diseases in people. Reliable data on antibiotic use in agriculture is needed for an effective national strategy to reduce antibiotic use are unavailable. ACTION: Write, call, fax or email Commissioner Jane Henney at the Food and Drug Administration and urge her to establish a reporting system to determine the quantity of antibiotics used in U.S. agriculture. TIMING: Write now and tell Commissioner Jane Henney and incoming Bush administration officials at the FDA that creating a federal antibiotic reporting system should be a top priority. BACKGROUND: The rise in antibiotic resistance is slowly eliminating the effectiveness of these drugs for treating infectious diseases in people. While the misuse of antibiotics in human medicine is the larger contributor to the problem, there is agreement among public health experts that the overuse of antibiotics in agriculture is also impacting human health by contributing to the rise in drug-resistant microorganisms. But while there is growing acceptance of the causes of antibiotic resistance, there are few publicly available data on the quantity of antibiotics used in the United States - data that are necessary for scientists to explore the links between antibiotic use and the development of drug resistance and for developing rational strategies to curb use. In the just released report Hogging It!, the Union of Concerned Scientists attempts to address this lack of data by estimating antibiotic use in U.S. agriculture. UCS calculated antibiotic use in the three major livestock sectors using publicly available information on herd size, approved drug lists and dosages, and estimates on the percent of herds treated. Our report estimates that a staggering 24.6 million pounds - roughly 70 percent of all antibiotic drugs - are fed to healthy cows, pigs, and chickens annually for nontherapeutic purposes such as growth promotion. By our calculations the amount and total share of antibiotics used in livestock dwarf the 17.8 million pounds recently reported by industry for all agricultural use of antibiotics. Although they were devised by an indirect method, UCS's numbers are the best, most transparent estimate of agricultural antibiotic use available. While they are good, they are not good enough. Government-guaranteed information on U.S. antibiotic use is necessary for creating effective solutions for reducing antibiotic use. The Food and Drug Administration has recognized the need for collecting such information, but it has not taken steps to establish the needed system. The FDA should move now to establish a system for collecting basic data on agricultural antibiotic use in the United States. The information should be collected for both human and agricultural use and should include the class, indication, dosage, and treatment period. WHO TO CONTACT: Write, phone, fax, or e-mail FDA Commissioner Jane and urge her to collect and report data on the quantity of antibiotics used in U.S. agriculture. Jane E. Henney, M.D. Commissioner U. S. Food and Drug Administration 5600 Fishers Lane Rockville MD 20857-0001 phone: 301-827-2410 fax: 301-443-3100 E-mail: execsec@oc.fda.gov QUESTIONS: If you have questions about this action alert, or are interested in obtaining a copy of Hogging It! , please contact Steven Fondriest in UCS' Washington, DC office by responding to this email or by calling 202-223- 6133. The report is also available at our website at www.ucsusa.org. ********** If time permits, a well-written personal letter sent by U.S. mail still carries the most weight. However, when speed is of the essence, emailing can be a good way to get your message across. When sending email, follow these guidelines: -- Never forward our Action Alerts. Always use the information in our alerts to write your own message. -- Ask for a reply to your email message and check to make sure you receive a response. If you do not receive a reply within a reasonable time period, call the FDA office to see if they received your message. -- Use the format of a letter for your email message, including your return address. Without a return address, your message could be discounted or simply be deleted. ********** NOTE: If you send a letter, a fax, or an email, please send us a "blind copy." (A blind copy simply means that you do not indicate anywhere on your letter that you are sending a copy to us.) By regular mail send to 1707 H St., NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20006. By email, send to sfondriest@ucsusa.org. Fax to 202-223-6162. CHANGE OF EMAIL ADDRESS: Help us keep you posted! If your email address will soon change, or if you'd like us to use a different address, please let us know by sending a message to ucs@ucsusa.org with your new address. Thanks! **********