The Food and Drug Administration is doing what it can to prevent animals from becoming resistant to antibiotics that ought to help stave off infections.
For years now, various livestock producers have been using antibiotics to make animals such as cattle grow larger so as to improve food output, or else to improve feed efficiency. The problem with this practice is that those animals can begin to develop a resistance to the very antibiotics meant to make animals healthier and heartier. Therefore, when an animal actually does get sick, those same antibiotics are much less effective at curing the illness.
To combat this, the FDA today announced three documents that are going to be laying out new guidelines for livestock producers to follow in order to ensure the health of so-called food producing animals.
The first is meant to act as guidance in how producers can phase out the usage of such antibiotics. It calls for veterinarians to be brought in to supervise the application of antibiotics in instances where animals really are sick. The second document will advise drug companies on how they ought to remove from their labels statements touting their usage in food production, putting in its place information about veterinarian-assisted illness treatment. The third is a proposal for how vets can determine how to efficiently permit antibiotic usage among animals.
I’ll be paying attention to this story as a Los Angeles personal injury lawyer. This is a step that many activists have been trying to get the FDA to enact for some time, and no matter what happens, I just hope as a Fresno personal injury lawyer that it keeps humans and animals alike safe.
Because of worries that it could actually adversely affect human beings, the Food and Drug Administration has taken steps to ban cephalosporin in livestock.
The thinking works like this: although antibiotics such as cephalosporin are a great way to treat infections, extended application can actually cause the person being treated to become susceptible to strengthened bacteria. Cattle, chicken, and pigs have been given the drug to combat internal infection, but since those animals are then processed into our food, we then risk being constantly exposed to the cephalosporin.
Basically, this means it’s possible that fairly harmless bacteria are taken care of while the more serious bacteria like E. coli become immune to the effects of an antibiotic.
There are other antibiotics that are given to livestock that have not yet been banned, such as the far more common tetracycline. However, experts think that the cephalosporin ban is a great step that may lead to bans on more prevalent types of antibiotics.
One area where the ban on cephalosporin will not take place is with pets. The antibiotic is widespread in veterinary offices, and as such, the FDA does not want to compromise the safety of such animals.
As a personal injury lawyer in Long Beach, I’m glad to see any steps taken to preserve public health. It’s my hope that this and other measures can save lives and make food safer for all of us to eat. As a Los Angeles personal injury attorney, I’ll be paying attention to see what other practices the FDA enacts in the near future.
According to news sources, a ruling issued by the Food and Drug Administration today will effectively put an end to the practice of using common antibiotics in livestock, in an attempt to protect human beings from drug-resistant bacteria, which may have evolved as a direct result of the practice.
The ruling will prevent only drugs belonging to the class of antibiotics known as cephalosporins from being used in livestock. The measure places an emphasis on preventing the use of this class of antibiotics in certain types of livestock, such as cattle, swine, turkeys and poultry. The threat arises from the livestock carrying drug-resistant germs in their manure or flesh, which they can then transmit to humans, as a result of the antibiotic treatments they receive to treat certain disease.
The purpose of the ruling is to help decrease the number of people becoming ill due to spreading resistant superbugs, by prohibiting the extra-label use of this class of antibiotics.
As a Long Beach personal injury lawyer, I appreciate all efforts being made to ensure increased healthcare safety standards for patients. I hope this information can help raise awareness about this practice and keep consumers safe. If you or a loved one has been injured through the use or consumption of a defective product, speak with a personal injury attorney Long Beach to learn about the legal options available to you.
