Commercial agriculture like Purdue will simply hire "Vets" to state that their flocks need antibiotics rather than changing their business practices of cramming chickens into warehouses which actually breeds diseases. The small farmer who free ranges his chickens and needs these antibiotics for legitimate reasons will end up losing his flock and farm unless he can get a Vet to approve and prescribe the antibiotics.
Check out the CoopCast's take on this issue here: Coopcast Episode 016
We need to change the way our food is grown by choosing to pay more for better quality. This new rule will only impede our choices because the small farmer will be forced out and we will still be stuck with chicken that is full of antibotics but it will be Vet approved.
LOS ANGELES -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday that it will ask farmers, drug companies and veterinarians to curb the use of antibiotics in pigs, chickens, cows and other animals. The widespread practice has been shown to create drug resistance in microbes.
The presence of such “superbugs,” as they’re sometimes called, threatens public health because if they sicken humans, they can be impossible to treat.
The FDA’s recommendations included guidelines to help the industry phase out the antibiotics for “production use” and transfer oversight of the drugs for therapeutic work to veterinarians (that is, require a prescription). The FDA also offered draft guidance to drug companies for labeling their products to require a prescription and draft regulations to allow veterinarians to authorize the use of “certain drugs” in feed. Many of the antibiotics are used to promote growth in food-producing animals.
FDA wants farmers to get prescriptions for antibiotics used in animals. - Health/Science - NewsObserver.com
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