The FDA is accepting comments on a rule that could make it easier to feed antibiotics to healthy food animals.
The new rule affects the Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD), a program allowing veterinarians to prescribe antibiotics mixed into animal feed in new ways. Currently, the VFD ensures that for those new antibiotic uses a diagnosis is made before animals are given antibiotics in their feed.
Proposed changes to the VFD could weaken oversight that prevents unnecessary drug use, increasing the rate of antibiotic resistance in humans and the microbial world.
Many industrial farms routinely feed antibiotics to poultry or livestock to compensate for overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, while promoting growth.Up to 70 percent of all antibiotics sold in the U.S. are fed to healthy food animals.
Weakening the VFD could breed dangerous new strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can spread to humans thus making these important drugs we depend on useless.
Send your comment now! Protect humans and animals from the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria by telling the FDA to protect antibiotics today.
Does this mean that vets will be able to perscribe antibiotic food to whole herds of cattle or is this just for individual cases where a pet is sick and they put antibiotics in <a href="http://www.petco.com">natural dog food</a> to aid the animal in recovery?