Health And Consumer Groups Sue FDA Over Antibiotics In Animal Feed

A coalition of health and consumer organizations led by the Natural Resources Defense Council has filed a suit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration charging that the agency has failed to meet its legal responsibilities to deal with the overuse of antibiotics in animal feed. According to the NRDC, the overemployment of antibiotics in animal feed is the main cause of the rise of drug-resistant infections in humans over the last 40 years. About 70 percent of the antibiotics used in the U.S. are fed to healthy farm animals to promote faster growth and compensate for unsanitary living conditions. The coalition suit would compel FDA to act on its own safety findings by withdrawing approval for most non-therapeutic uses of penicillin and tetracyclines in animal feed.