By Dr. Isaac Wolfe
It will make more money for the food industry, at least for a few years. But it's going to undermine the health of the world's people in as profound a way as global warming: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is about to let corporate meat producers put the antibiotic cefquinome in cattle feed. This drug is used in life-threatening infections in cancer patients and for severe infections that cannot be cured using standard antibiotics. It is one of the last drugs that can be used to treat serious infections produced by bacteria that have become resistant to other antibiotics.
Cefquinome will be used for the treatment and prevention of Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD). FDA approval is imminent even though an FDA advisory panel, the World Health Organization, the American Medical Association and many other health groups oppose the use of this drug in cattle.
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are a real danger. The Centers for Disease Control estimate that each year nearly 2 million patients contract an infection during a hospital stay, that more than 70% of the bacteria that caused these infections were resistant to at least one type of antibiotic, and that 90,000 deaths were caused by these infections.
It is proven that the use of antibiotics in animal feed produces antibiotic-resistant bacteria. For example, the use of the antibiotic fluoroquinolone in chicken feed led to the development of fluoroquinolone-resistant campylobacter bacteria, which are now responsible for a hard to treat diarrhea in humans. Over 50% of the antibiotics used in the U.S. are given to animals by corporate food producers.
So why is the FDA moving to permit the use of cefquinome in cattle? The answer lies in an FDA regulation ("Guidance for Industry #152"), which makes it almost impossible for the FDA to prevent the use of new antibiotics in animals, even if it wants to. Written by and for the pharmaceutical industry, Guidance #152 shows the extent that the pharmaceutical industry has subverted the FDA — which is supposed to protect us from such dangers..
BRD results from the stress the meat industry places on the cattle during shipping and in feedlots. The meat industry has systematically cut down on the space provided cattle in transport and on the feedlots, in order to cut costs and maximize profits. The resulting close quarters facilitate the spread of airborne diseases such as BRD and increase stress, which reduces resistance to these diseases.
BRD is one of the most common and costly diseases among feedlot cattle. According to a 2000 Oklahoma State University report, heifers that were kept healthy and never had to be treated for BRD produced a net return that was $11.48 per head more than heifers treated once for BRD, and $37.34 per head more than those treated two or more times. When you are processing millions of head of cattle, BRD has a significant impact on profits.
So why not change transport and feedlot conditions and treat the cattle in a humane manner? This is impossible in a production-for-profit system. Pressed to maximize profit, not feed humanity safely, the only solution available to the cattle industry is to try to prevent BRD outbreaks by adding antibiotics to the cattle feed, no matter what effect that will have on human health.
It does not have to be this way. Imagine a society where food is produced for consumption, not for profit and where humanity replaces exploitation. There is no other way to protect the health of humankind and of the animals with which we share this planet.
