House subcommittee to explore animal antibiotic use

7/14/2010 9:18:00 AM
By: WJBC Staff

A House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee will hold a hearing Wednesday on the use of antibiotics in animal agriculture and its impact on human health. Dr. Gail Hansen, a senior officer of the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming and former Kansas State Public Health Veterinarian, will be one of the witnesses...


   
Hansen, a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, says much of her testimony will draw upon what she learned during a recent trip to Denmark. That country banned non-therapeutic drug use in its livestock and poultry in the 1990s. According to the World Health Organization, that has resulted in reduced risk to human health without significantly harming animal health or farmers incomes...


   
Hansen made her comments at a press conference where she was joined by New York Democratic Congressman Louise Slaughter, author of the Prevention of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act or PAMTA. The measure would prohibit seven types of antibiotics used in human medicine from being indiscriminately used in animal feed. Slaughter’s bill has 113 co-sponsors, all of whom are Democrats, and she hinted that she’ll use her clout as chairman of the Rules Committee to get PAMTA on the House floor in a lame-duck session if Republicans seize control in November...


   
Animal drug makers will be represented at the hearing by Dr. Richard Carnevale, Vice President of the Animal Health Institute. USDA Chief Veterinarian Dr. John Clifford will also testify.

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