From: David G Van Dame [dvd.kvd@juno.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2001 6:49 PM
To: EXECSEC
Subject: National Antibiotic-Use Reporting System

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

Commissioner Jane Henney,

This message is to ask you to take action to slow the emergence of
antibiotic resistance due to the overuse of antibiotics in agriculture. 
Please let me know about your actions or decision in this matter. 

 There currently is no reliable data on antibiotic use in agriculture
which is necessary if a successful strategy to reduce antibiotic use is
to be developed.  You have the ability to establish a reporting system to
track the quantity of antibiotics used in U.S. agriculture.  Creating a
federal antibiotic inventory is a deserving goal for the FDA in its
mission to regulate drug use for the public good. 

For years I have been concerned about the frequent reports of antibiotic
resistance, & recent developments seem to suggest that antibiotics and
antibiotic resistant organisms are moving off various feeding sites in
untreated sewage, then into wetlands and waterfowl, who then fly away
with antibiotic resistant organisms.

The Union of Concerned Scientists 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.

Their calculations estimate that  24.6 million pounds - roughly 70
percent of all antibiotic drugs - are fed to healthy cows, pigs, and
chickens annually for  purposes such as growth promotion.  

These figures were devised by an indirect method, and better information
is required.  Government  information on U.S. antibiotic use is necessary
for scientists and the FDA to create solutions for reducing antibiotic
use.  

Please direct the FDA 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.

The UCS report Hogging It! is at http://www.ucsusa.org 

Peace,   Kathy Van Dame
1148 East 6600 South #7
Salt Lake City, Utah 84121
(801)261-5989  dvd.kvd@juno.com