Due to the misuse of antibiotics in food animal production, antibiotics are losing their effectiveness in treating human diseases.
Many of the antibiotics used in food animal production, such as penicillins, tetracyclines, macrolides and sulfonamides are identical to, or from the same family as, drugs used in human medicine to cure serious diseases.
Because these classes of antibiotics are similar, bacteria resistant to antibiotics used in animals will also be resistant to antibiotics used in humans.
Without effective antibiotics, modern medical treatments such as surgery and transplants will become all but impossible.
- The White House
- President of the United States
I just signed the following petition addressed to: The White House.
Four years ago, you promised to curb the overuse of antibiotics on industrial farms to stem the emergence of deadly superbugs.
Today, your words as a candidate have not turned into action as our President—and the problem has only gotten worse. On behalf of the People of the United States, the undersigned are asking you to expedite approval of the draft FDA guidance regarding overuse of antibiotics.
HERE'S WHY WE'RE ASKING:
- MRSA kills more Americans each year than AIDS. Recently a strain of MRSA has emerged that infects humans and has been associated with antibiotics given to animals raised for food.
-80% of the antibiotics sold in the U.S. are used in animal agriculture. The majority go to healthy animals to promote growth and to compensate for the effects of overcrowding and unsanitary conditions.
- The Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics has estimated that antibiotic-resistant bacteria generate $16.6 billion to $26 billion per year in extra costs to the U.S. health care system.
- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention testified before Congress last year that there was a definitive link between the routine use of antibiotics when raising animals for food and the crisis of antibiotic resistance in humans.
PLEASE KEEP YOUR PROMISE TO PROTECT US FROM SUPERBUGS BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.
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