From: Henney, Jane Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2001 11:15 AM To: EXECSEC Subject: FW: End Use of Human Antibiotics in Livestock Feed > ---------- > From: mrpib417@aol.com[SMTP:MRPIB417@AOL.COM] > Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2001 11:15:03 AM > To: jhenney@oc.fda.gov > Subject: End Use of Human Antibiotics in Livestock Feed > Auto forwarded by a Rule > Philip Berlier 7 Evergreen Drive 44 Clifton, NJ 07014 mrpib417@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 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. Besides the isssue fo antibiotics in animals is the issue concerning the feeding practices of farmers that supply our meat. While I applaud the banning of rendered cows being fed back to the cows in their feed, the continued use of rendered pigs in livestock feed is unconscionable. I do not beleive that the health of U.S. consumers should be jeapordized in any way, even if the risk is minute, just to protect profit margins for industry. Sincerely, Philip Berlier Philip Berlier