Slaughter Announces Rules Hearing On Bill To Curb Excessive Antibiotics in Meat

Washington, DC –House Committee on Rules Chair Louise Slaughter today announced plans to hold a July 13 hearing on her legislation aimed at improving food safety by limiting the amount and type of antibiotics that can be given to cows, pigs and chickens that are raised for food. Slaughter, the only microbiologist in Congress, said that limiting the use of antibiotics will stem the growth of treatment-resistant bacteria and help preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics for treatment of human diseases.

“The surge in diseases resistant to antibiotics borders on a public health crisis. I for one do not intend to stand around and watch this problem get any worse,” Slaughter said. “As a society, if we allow antibiotics to be used indiscriminately and without thought, we will suffer the consequences. It’s time to put a stop to big agribusinesses doling out non-therapeutic pharmaceuticals just because it is better for their bottom line. My legislation limits how these antibiotics are used in livestock so we don’t inadvertently create super bugs that are too powerful for our own medicine.”

The hearing will take place in Room 312 of the Capitol at noon. Separately, Rep. Slaughter will host a screening of Food, Inc. on July 9^th at 6:30 pm at the Capitol Visitors Center. The film deals with some of the same food safety issues addressed by her legislation.

Slaughter’s legislation would do the following:

Phase out the non-therapeutic use in livestock of medically important antibiotics;  require this same tough standard of new applications for approval of animal antibiotics; and does not restrict use of antibiotics to treat sick animals or to treat pets and other animals not used for food.

Antibiotics are a part of modern medicine, protecting all of us from deadly infections. Unfortunately, over the past several years, the widespread practice of using antibiotics to promote livestock growth and compensate for unsanitary, crowded conditions has led to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria and other germs, rendering many of our most powerful drugs ineffective.

According to estimates by the Union of Concerned Scientists, 50 million pounds of antibiotics – nearly 70 percent of all antibiotics sold in the U.S. – have been used in food animals for purposes other than treating disease since PAMTA was last introduced two years ago.

Over 300 organizations representing health, consumer, agricultural, environmental, humane and other interests including the American Medical Association, the American Public Health Association, the National Association of County and City Health Officials, and the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture, have supported enactment of legislation to phase out nontherapeutic use medically important antibiotics in farm animals. 

Two million Americans acquire bacterial infections during their hospital stay every year, and 70 percent of their infections will be resistant to the drugs commonly used to treat them. These impacts on human health can result in both higher frequency and longer duration of hospitalizations, raising the cost of healthcare. Estimates of the extra costs to the U.S. healthcare system due to antibiotic-resistant bacteria range from 4-5 billion dollars

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