FDA drafts guidelines to reduce use of antibiotics in livestock
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a draft of guidelines for the “judicious” use of antibiotics in livestock. The draft describes a series of scientific articles concluding that using antimicrobial drugs for production and growth-enhancing purposes rather than for therapeutic purposes in food-producing animals is resulting in antimicrobial resistance to the drugs. “The development of resistance to these drugs, and the resulting loss of their effectiveness, poses a serious public health threat,” according to the document.
