[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 49 (Tuesday, March 24, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E400-E401]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




THE PRESERVATION OF ANTIBIOTICS FOR MEDICAL TREATMENT ACT OF 2015--H.R. 
                                  1552

                                 ______
                                 

                     HON. LOUISE McINTOSH SLAUGHTER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 24, 2015

  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to announce that I have 
introduced H.R. 1552, the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical 
Treatment Act of 2015. This legislation would preserve the 
effectiveness of antibiotics by ending the unnecessary non-therapeutic 
uses of antibiotics in healthy food-animals.
  The discovery of antibiotics literally transformed modern medicine, 
but their effectiveness is now being threatened by the spread of 
antibiotic resistant bacteria. Recently the World Health Organization 
warned that the crisis is ``so serious that it threatens the 
achievements of modern medicine.''
  Already the CDC has told us that these superbugs cause two million 
infections and kill at least twenty-three thousand Americans every 
year. We spend twenty- to thirty-five billion dollars fighting these 
infections--sometimes in vain, as there are now strains of bacteria 
which have become completely untreatable. The scale of this problem 
worldwide is truly staggering--each year, seven hundred thousand people 
die unnecessarily and the global cost could be as high as $1.2 
trillion.
  Unfortunately this problem is our own doing. Despite warnings from 
the very scientists who discovered antibiotics we have utterly failed 
to use them wisely. Overuse in medicine and rampant misuse in food-
animal production has caused widespread resistance and led to the 
current crisis.
  Food-animal production currently uses 80% of all antibiotics sold in 
the U.S. The majority of these are routinely given to healthy animals 
for ``growth promotion'' or ``disease prevention.'' These non-
therapeutic uses are not only unnecessary, but they also create the 
perfect environment for bacteria to evolve resistance, resulting in 
antibiotic resistant superbugs. Right now, we are allowing the greatest 
medical advancement of the 20th century to be frittered away, in part 
because it's cheaper for factory farms to feed these critical drugs to 
animals rather than fix the stressful, overcrowded or unsanitary 
conditions which allow disease to spread.
  By the 1970's the dangers of misusing antibiotics in food-animals 
were well known and in 1977 the Food and Drug Administration sought to 
end sub-therapeutic uses of penicillin and tetracycline in food-
animals. However, no substantive action was ever taken, antibiotic use 
has steadily increased and the problem is now worse than ever.
  The FDA's recent decision to ask pharmaceutical companies to 
voluntarily remove ``growth promotion'' uses from drug labels is an 
inadequate response which fails to address routine non-therapeutic 
uses, often called the disease prevention loophole. A recent analysis 
by the PEW Charitable Trust clearly shows that this loophole can be 
exploited as many drugs have overlapping approvals for disease 
prevention and growth promotion and can be given to animals with no 
limit on the duration of use.
  The Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act would phase 
out the use of the

[[Page E401]]

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.
  Both the American people and the U.S. government need to give this 
issue the attention it demands. Unless we act now and act together to 
preserve the effectiveness of our current antibiotics we face a future 
without them. Strep throat could once again lead to fatal heart 
infections. Common surgeries such as having wisdom teeth removed, joint 
replacements and Cesarean sections would become too risky to perform. 
Even something as common as dressing your child's scrapes with 
Neosporin could no longer be able to keep an infection at bay.
  Protecting the public's health is one of the greatest 
responsibilities of this body and I urge my colleagues to stand with me 
to support the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act.

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