From: Martha Booz [mlbooz@calnatives.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2001 9:49 PM
To: EXECSEC
Subject: Start Reporting on Quantity of Antibiotics Used in Agriculture

Dear Dr. Henney,

I am writing to urge you to start collecting and reporting on the 
quantity of antibiotics used in U.S. agriculture. I have been reading 
about this problem for several years, and I'm sure you have, too. 
One of the biggest risks we face is uncontrolled infections, due to 
bacteria which have mutated to be resistant to the antibiotics we use 
to cure the infections.  The mutations come about because of the 
wide-spread use of the same antibiotics in feedlots for cattle, 
swine, sheep, chickens, and turkeys.  All the meat animals are 
treated this way by those huge factory farms. It's considered good 
agricultural practice, yet it endangers the public health.

The risk is very great, and we can't begin to address the problem 
until we have data to understand the scope of the problem.  I believe 
that there are *tons* of antibiotics used every year, and that this 
practice must stop. We need the data to know what the problem is.

The data should be by site, by farm, and per animal, per day, 
including the number of animals at each site, and how long the 
animals are at the site before slaughter.  The information should be 
collected for both human and agricultural use and should include the 
class, indication, dosage, and treatment period.

Thank you for your attention.

Martha Booz, Ph.D.
3823 Valley Lane
El Sobrante, CA 98403-3118
mlbooz@calnatives.com
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Martha L. Booz, Ph.D.
http://www.calnatives.com
Past President, East Bay Chapter
Association for Women in Science
http://www.ebawis.org
510-222-4698 home
510-741-6821 work
mlbooz@calnatives.com
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