From: MBuytend@domainpharma.com
Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2001 10:04 AM
To: EXECSEC
Subject: A National Antibiotic-Use Reporting System

Dear Dr. Henney: 

        One of my colleagues recently brought this information to my attention and I think I merits your consideration as well. 


**********  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. 

Respectfully, 


Mark Buytendorp