As antibiotic-resistant bacteria have spread, a White House announcement highlights a possible role agriculture plays in the broader problem.
On Thursday, President Barack Obama signed an executive order outlining a national strategy to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
The order calls for a task force to be co-chaired by the secretaries of defense, agriculture, and health and human services; incentives to speed the development of new antibiotics; and a review of antibiotic regulations at hospitals, among other directives.
The U.S. Agriculture Department was tasked with tracking antibiotic use and resistance on farms, taking steps to eliminate medically important classes of antibiotics in livestock and working with international partners.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that the majority of antibiotic-resistant bacteria are found in hospitals, but the widespread use of antibiotics in agriculture increases the risk that antibiotic-resistant bacteria could be bred and transferred to humans.
The CDC estimates that annually at least 2 million illnesses and 23,000 deaths are caused by the bacteria. About 80 percent of all antibiotics used in the United States are used on livestock.
“Medically important antibiotics are also extensively used in animal agriculture not only to treat sick animals, but also to promote animal growth and to prevent infections,” according to a report by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. “All of these uses promote the development of antibiotic resistance among bacteria in animals, and these resistant strains do, at least in some cases, spread to humans.”
The report was released with the executive order.
But industry groups and some researchers have said agriculture’s contribution to the problem is minimal because the majority of antibiotics used on animals are not used on people.
“Most of the research that you see, it shows that we’re not really contributing because the drugs aren’t similar enough to human drugs,” said Jason Cater, an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas and a doctor of veterinary medicine. “As far as the poultry industry goes, there’s a real misconception that poultry companies are using antibiotics to promote growth in chickens.”
Cater said a veterinarian has to approve the use of most antibiotics, especially the most potent ones. Veterinarians ideally request a lab test to see whether bacteria are present and which antibiotic would be most effective, but that isn’t always possible, he said.
“When you have a sick or diseased animal, you just don’t have time to wait,” Cater said. “You have to use your best medical judgment to make the call.”
Agricultural lobby groups responded en masse to the order.
“In its executive order on combating antibiotic resistant bacteria, the White House acknowledged something that the National Pork Producers Council has been saying for years: More epidemiological research is needed to understand the key drivers of increased antibiotic resistance,” the group said in a statement.
The National Chicken Council said it supported Food and Drug Administration guidelines that will phase out the use of medically important antibiotics by 2016.
“We look forward to working with the new task force as we continue to implement these new FDA policies, especially as the work relates to defining metrics for success and conducting more research in the area of antibiotic resistance,” the group said.