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NEW YORK (AP) - A federal judge has ordered the Food and DrugAdministration to evaluate the safety risks to human healthassociated with the widespread use of antibiotics in food-producinganimals, saying the agency has done "shockingly little" sinceproposing in the 1970s to order a substantial reduction in the useof antibiotics in animal feed. U.S. Magistrate Judge Theodore Katz in Manhattan issued the orderin a ruling filed on Monday. The decision largely agreed with thearguments of several health and consumer organizations that suedlast year, saying the FDA violated federal law by failing towithdraw approval of using penicillin and tetracyclines in animalfeed when animal health is not at stake. Katz said the agency must evaluate the safety risks of the drugsand make a finding that they are unsafe - or explain why it isrefusing to do so. He rejected the agency's argument that it had addressed the threatfrom antibiotics by initiating a voluntary program that encouragesthe industry to use the drugs "judiciously" because public hearingswould consume extensive periods of time and agency resources. "By refusing to make findings as to the drugs' safety - or providea statutorily based reason for refusing to make such findings - theagency avoided the Congressionally mandated scheme for addressingdrugs not shown to be safe," Katz wrote. "For over thirty years,the agency has been confronted with evidence of the human healthrisks associated with the widespread ... use of antibiotics infood-producing animals, and, despite a statutory mandate to ensurethe safety of animal drugs, the agency has done shockingly littleto address these risks." The magistrate judge criticized the agency's complaint that theprocess mandated by Congress to address when a drug is found to beunsafe was not effective because it takes too long, saying it wasit was ironic for the agency to make that complaint since hearingswould have long been completed had they commenced in a timelyfashion. "One can only wonder what conceding the absence of an effectiveregulatory mechanism signals to the industry which the FDA isobligated to regulate," Katz said in a footnote. Government lawyers already are appealing a March ruling by Katz inwhich he required the FDA to withdraw approval for uses of theantibiotics that the industry cannot prove are safe. They have asked Katz and the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals tosuspend the effect of his rulings, saying "the unnecessaryexpenditure of public funds and resources is not in the publicinterest," especially since the agency is trying through itsvoluntary program to limit the use of 161 antibiotic drugs ratherthan the several at stake in the litigation. They added thatstaging hearings would force the FDA to divert resources from otheragency programs that are important to its public health mission andcould take years. The FDA declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation. Last year's lawsuit noted that the FDA concluded in 1977 thatfeeding animals low doses of certain antibiotics could promoteantibiotic-resistant bacteria that could infect people, but failedto act to curb their use. As a result, it said, about 80 percent ofall antibiotics used in the United States are now used in livestockto promote faster animal growth on less feed, to treat sick animalsand to prevent diseases that occur when animals are kept incramped, unsanitary conditions. The Natural Resources Defense Council Inc., an environmental andpublic health advocacy group that is one of the plaintiffs, hassaid the antibiotics are added to feed or water for pigs, cows,chickens and turkeys at levels too low to treat disease, enablingbacteria to survive in a form stronger and more resistant tomedical treatment. "The court's order pushes the agency one step closer to meaningfulaction to curb the dangerous overuse of antibiotics in animalfeed," said Avinash Kar, one of the group's attorneys. "This is a great victory for the public health," said MargaretMellon, senior scientist of Union of Concerned Scientists, anotherplaintiff in the lawsuit. "The court has seen through the FDA'sexcuses and is ordering the agency to move expeditiously oncritical issues that have dragged on for far too long.". I am an expert from rf-cardlock.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China Digital Keypad Door Lock , Mifare Card Lock, Smart Card Door Lock,and more.
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