October 18, 2001	Thursday	Rajab 30, 1422

BOSTON, Oct 17: Harmful bacteria in meat and poultry are becoming more resistant to antibiotics due to the long-controversial practice of feeding the drugs to cattle and other food animals, according to research published in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine.

The practice of giving healthy livestock antibiotics to promote growth and profits makes salmonella and similar organisms that sometimes can cause severe diseases immune to the drugs and should be scrapped, according to an accompanying editorial.

The new research, along with previous studies “represent the proverbial smoking gun” that demonstrates why it is time to stop feeding antibiotics to livestock, said Dr. Sherwood Gorbach in the editorial.

Gorbach, of the Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, said antibiotics should only be given to individual animals that have been examined by a veterinarian, and even those animals should not be allowed to receive antibiotics that are important for curing human disease.

In addition, he said, the practice of giving antibiotics to animals to promote growth should be banned.

Researchers have been trying to raise the alarm for years about the widespread practice of feeding antibiotics to food animals.

The Union of Concerned Scientists, a science-based advocacy group opposed to the use of antibiotics in livestock, estimated earlier this year that while 3 million pounds (1.3 million kg) of antibiotics are given to humans each year, 26.6 million pounds (12.1 million kg) are given to animals.

About 24.6 million pounds (11.2 million kg) of that goes to animals that are not sick.

Doctors may play a role in breeding antibiotic resistance because they overuse the drugs in humans, but the widespread use of antibiotics in animals contributes to the problem, Gorbach said.

Proponents of animal antibiotic use contend the drugs make food production more efficient and profitable, Gorbach said.

However, he said, “there are alternatives, as shown in Europe after the use of these drugs was abandoned. The economic losses could be minimized and even neutralized by improvements in animal husbandry, the quality of feed, and hygiene.”

Nearly 1.4 million cases of salmonella poisoning occur in the United States each year from eating contaminated beef, pork, poultry, eggs and milk. The risk is highest among the elderly and people whose immune systems are not working properly.

In the latest study investigators from the Food and Drug Administration found that 20 percent of the 200 samples of ground chicken, beef, turkey, and pork purchased at three Washington D.C.-area supermarkets contained salmonella, which causes food poisoning.

In addition, 84 percent of those salmonella bacteria were resistant to at least one type of antibiotic; 53 percent were resistant to three.

Another study in the Journal tested chicken products in four states and found 17 percent harboured drug-resistant bacteria.—Reuters