[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 88 (Tuesday, July 11, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H5817]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                EFFORTS TO COMBAT ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the House, for the first 
time ever, tackled the public health threat from antibiotic-resistant 
bacteria in our food supply.
  On Monday, during debate on the agriculture appropriations bill, the 
House passed my amendment to dedicate an additional $3 million to the 
work of the Food and Drug Administration on antibiotic resistance 
resulting from the use of antibiotics in livestock.
  Scientists and public health officials have known for decades that 
using the same antibiotics for food animals as for people could cause 
problems. Sixteen years ago my esteemed colleagues, the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Dingell) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman), 
introduced legislation to curtail the use of human antibiotics in 
animals. But this amendment, Mr. Speaker, marks the first time this 
House has taken legislative action to stop Boyd resistance from 
agricultural overuse of these precious drugs.
  Mr. Speaker, we thought we were winning the war against infectious 
diseases. With the introduction of antibiotics in the 1940s, humans 
gained an overwhelming advantage in the fight against bacteria. But 
this war is far from won. Last month, the World Health Organization 
issued a ringing warning against antibiotic resistance. Around the 
world, microbes are mutating at an alarming rate into new strains that 
fail to respond to drugs.
  The mapping of the human genome project has been lauded far and wide 
in the past several weeks. Indeed, mapping the genome is a triumph that 
will lead to many breakthroughs in health care. But in the meantime, we 
are slowly, and in some cases, rapidly losing our precious antibiotics 
and putting ourselves at risk for diseases that we thought we had 
licked: tuberculosis, typhoid, cholera, dysentery and on and on and on.
  We need to develop new antibiotics, to be sure; but we cannot give up 
on the ones we have and the ones that have been effective for decades. 
By using antibiotics and antimicrobials more wisely and more sparingly, 
we can slow down antibiotic resistance.
  We need to change the way drugs are given to people, because clearly, 
they are overprescribed in the developed world and often not fully 
taken in the underdeveloped world. But we also need to look at the way 
drugs are given to animals. According to the World Health Organization, 
50 percent of all antibiotics are used in agriculture, both for animals 
and for plants. The U.S. livestock producers use drugs to treat sick 
herds and flocks, as they should. But they also feed a steady diet of 
antibiotics to help the livestock so they will gain weight more quickly 
and be ready for market sooner. Many of these drugs are the same ones 
used to treat infections in people.
  Prolonged exposure to antibiotics in farm animals provides a breeding 
ground for resistant strains of E. Coli and salmonella and other 
bacteria harmful to humans. When transferred to people through the food 
we eat, they can cause dangerous infections.
  A few weeks ago, an interagency task force issued a draft ``Public 
Health Action Plan to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance.'' The plan 
provides a blueprint for specific coordinated Federal actions. A top 
priority action item in the draft plan highlights work already underway 
at the Food and Drug Administration Center for Veterinary Medicine. In 
late 1998, the FDA issued a Proposed Framework for evaluating and 
regulating new animal drugs in light of their contribution to 
antibiotic resistance in humans.
  Mr. Speaker, my amendment, which is now incorporated in the 
agricultural appropriations bill, directs an additional $3 million 
toward the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine and their work on 
antibiotic resistance related to animal drugs. Director Sundloff has 
stated the antibiotic resistance is the center's top priority. However, 
the ``framework document'' states the agency will look first at 
approvals for new animal drugs and then will look at drugs already in 
use in animals as time and resources permit. That is why the additional 
$3 million will give a significant boost to the ability of the Center 
for Veterinary Medicine to move forward on antibiotic resistance and to 
begin to look at those drugs already in use in animals.
  More importantly, Mr. Speaker, this body finally this week took a 
proactive step to protect us from resistant bacteria in our food 
supply. If the Senate acts quickly and decisively, many lives will be 
saved, particularly among young children and particularly among our 
elderly parents, the people who are most vulnerable to food-borne 
illnesses.

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