From: EXECSEC Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2001 1:44 AM To: Dockets, FDA Subject: FW: End Use of Human Antibiotics in Livestock Feed > ---------- > From: Henney, Jane > Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2001 1:44:22 AM > To: EXECSEC > Subject: FW: End Use of Human Antibiotics in Livestock Feed > Auto forwarded by a Rule > > > > ---------- > From: RohrMD@aol.com[SMTP:ROHRMD@AOL.COM] > Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2001 1:45:31 AM > To: jhenney@oc.fda.gov > Cc: RohrMD@aol.com > Subject: End Use of Human Antibiotics in Livestock Feed > Auto forwarded by a Rule > Dr. Michael D. Rohr 20 Gardiner Place Montclair, NJ 07042-4443 RohrMD@aol.com Dear Dr. Henney, I am writing in support of Petition 99P-0485 to urge you to ban medically useful antibiotics from livestock feed. For decades, livestock producers have fed human antibiotics to hogs, cows and poultry to speed their growth or counteract the effects of crowded living conditions and poor hygiene. In fact, about one third of the antibiotics manufactured in the United States each year ends up in animal feed. Mounting evidence has proven that the overuse of antibiotics for livestock makes the drugs less effective for humans. Scientists, health organizations and governments around the world are urging that antibiotics not be squandered on fattening livestock. The World Health Organization recommended that antibiotics used to treat humans not be used to promote animal growth. The GAO reported that "research has linked three diseases with antibiotic-resistant strains affecting humans to the use of antibiotics in animals;" and the European Union has already banned human antibiotics in animal feed. I recently organized a conference on applied ethics at which experts presented evidence of the devastating effects drug-resistant diseases are having on humans around the world. We must prevent this from becoming a major hazard in the United States. As a philosopher gravely concerned about this serious threat to human wellbeing, I urge you not to allow an antibiotic to be used in livestock feed if that antibiotic is used in human medicine. Please tell me how you plan to address this looming health crisis. Sincerely, Dr. Michael D. Rohr