[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 37 (Thursday, March 14, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E299]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 INTRODUCTION OF THE PRESERVATION OF ANTIBIOTICS FOR MEDICAL TREATMENT 
                              ACT OF 2013

                                 ______
                                 

                     HON. LOUISE McINTOSH SLAUGHTER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 14, 2013

  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the 
Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act of 2013. We are 
on the verge of losing one of the greatest medical advancements in 
history, the development of antibiotics, by wasting them on healthy 
animals.
  Antibiotic resistance is a major public health crisis. Every year, 
two million Americans acquire bacterial infections during a stay in a 
hospital or long-term care facility. In the past, these infections were 
easily cleared with antibiotics. Now, as many as 100,000 people will 
die each year from these infections because 70 percent of them are 
resistant to one or more of the drugs commonly used to treat them. 
Alarmingly, multidrug-resistant bacteria, called CRE, have recently 
been found in 1 in 20 American hospitals and 1 in 6 long-term care 
facilities. These ``nightmare bacteria,'' so termed by Centers for 
Disease Control Director Dr. Thomas Frieden, are resistant to all 
antibiotics, including our antibiotics of last resort. A full 50 
percent of patients who get sick with these infections will die.
  As Dr. Frieden recently warned, ``we have a limited window of 
opportunity'' to fix this problem. In many cases, even ``our strongest 
antibiotics don't work and patients are left with potentially 
untreatable infections.'' We must act now to ensure that antibiotics 
are not being made obsolete.
  Yet, in a time when our most important medicines should be preserved 
and protected, they are routinely used in massive and indiscriminant 
quantities in agriculture, with little oversight. These precious 
resources are used at sub-therapeutic levels on healthy animals as a 
way to compensate for crowded and unsanitary living conditions or to 
promote growth. According to an analysis by the Food and Drug 
Administration, 13.5 million kilograms of antibiotics were sold for use 
in livestock and poultry in 2010, compared to 3.3 million kilograms 
sold for use in humans. It is unacceptable that 80 percent of the 
antibiotics sold in this country are used in agriculture on otherwise 
healthy animals, rather than being preserved for the treatment of 
critical human illnesses.
  The overuse of antibiotics in agriculture has been conclusively shown 
to harm human health. A 2002 publication in the Clinical Infectious 
Diseases journal analyzing more than 500 scientific articles concluded 
that ``many lines of evidence link antimicrobial resistant human 
infections to food-borne pathogens of animal origin.'' In fact, the 
Food and Drug Administration acknowledged the threat of antibiotic 
resistant disease and called for a reduction in the use of antibiotics 
in agriculture, in 1977. Yet, despite nearly 40 years of evidence, 
there has still not been any substantive action to halt the abuse of 
antibiotics.
  For this reason, I am again introducing the Preservation of 
Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act. This legislation would phase out 
the use of the eight classes of medically important antibiotics that 
are currently approved for non-therapeutic use in animal agriculture. 
The bill clearly defines the term ``non-therapeutic use'' to ensure 
that sick animals may be appropriately treated, but that any use of 
medically important antibiotics outside of treatment of a sick animal 
is not permitted.
  Penicillins are commonly used to treat illnesses from routine cases 
of strep throat to highly dangerous and infectious meningitis. 
Tetracyclines are used to treat people exposed to anthrax. Macrolides 
and sulfonamides are used to treat pneumonia in HIV-infected patients. 
We must maintain these weapons in our arsenal against illness, or we 
will soon find ourselves in circumstances such as those described when 
World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan warned 
that ``Things as common as strep throat or a child's scratched knee 
could once again kill.''
  When we go to the grocery store to pick up dinner, we should be able 
to buy our food without the worry that eating it will expose our family 
to potentially deadly bacteria that will no longer respond to our 
medical treatments. Unless we act now, we will unwittingly be 
permitting animals to serve as incubators for resistant bacteria.
  It is time for Congress to stand with scientists, the World Health 
Organization, the American Medical Association, and the National 
Academy of Sciences to do something to stop the spread of antibiotic 
resistant bacteria. Protecting the public's health is one of the 
greatest responsibilities of this body. I urge my colleagues to stand 
with me to support The Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical 
Treatment Act.

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