From: Thomas Keenan [grassroots00@earthlink.net]
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2001 3:30 PM
To: EXECSEC
Subject: anti-biotics in livestock - food chain.

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.

Over use in people is the largest contributor to resistance, it's true,
but there is ample evidence and a growing pool of
health care providers and professionals who agree that consumption is
another avenue for resistance.  Likewise - waste water sprayed on fields
is finding its way into water systems, carrying antibiotic resistance
bacteria and germs into drinking water sources - scientific data has
bore this out to be fact, not rumor!  We should all be alarmed as we
could potentially end up where we were before the days of penicillin -
where only minor infections kill!  Please pass this important
information on to those who President Bush will be placing in positions
of influence in this matter.  Please do what you can to convey the
urgency in addressing this need.  Thank you.


Sincerely,


Thomas D. Keenan
Grass Roots Landscape Design & Maintenance.