From: EXECSEC Sent: Friday, March 09, 2001 7:30 PM To: Dockets, FDA Subject: FW: End Use of Human Antibiotics in Livestock Feed > ---------- > From: Henney, Jane > Sent: Friday, March 09, 2001 7:30:27 PM > To: EXECSEC > Subject: FW: End Use of Human Antibiotics in Livestock Feed > Auto forwarded by a Rule > > > > ---------- > From: cellowoman@mailexcite.com[SMTP:CELLOWOMAN@MAILEXCITE.COM] > Sent: Friday, March 09, 2001 7:30:48 PM > To: jhenney@oc.fda.gov > Cc: cellowoman@mailexcite.com > Subject: End Use of Human Antibiotics in Livestock Feed > Auto forwarded by a Rule > Heather Plattenberger 301 N. Roadrunner Pkwy 506 Las Cruces, NM 88011 cellowoman@mailexcite.com Dear Dr. Henney, I am writing in support of Petition 99P-0485 to urge you to ban medically useful antibiotics from livestock feed. Before entering into the main portion of this letter, I would like to let you know how personal this issue should be to you. Whenever you hear a cough or a sniffle, that person has a disease. It may be "just a cold or the flu," which are the most common two diseases and, yet are still rampant. One of the main reasons for this is that these viruses build up a resistance to antibiotics, thus making them useless in treatment. Why, then are we trying to make this fight even harder by adding antibiotics to the food we eat? I can give you the answer: money. 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 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, Heather Plattenberger