FDA fails to address superbugs in meat

Factory farmed livestock are routinely administered antibiotics to keep them from becoming sick. But the daily dosing has some side effects, including the rise of drug-resistant superbugs in people. Salon reports on this story that has been slipping under the radar.

With the rise of factory farming, routine administration of antibiotics has become widespread; the use of drugs enables farmers to raise animals in confined conditions that pose contagion risks. Rather than being given only to animals who contract a disease, animals are dosed daily with drugs. As Salon notes:

The industry is able to raise thousands of animals in crowded conditions that would otherwise kill them for prices as “artificial” as the drugs they are raised on. Big Pharma’s invasion into farming is probably the biggest reason for the demise of family farms which are no longer able to compete in price.

The problem comes in because the same antibiotics used to dose livestock are also used to treat people for conditions ranging from strep to pneumonia. But the bacteria that live on animals adapt to the routine use of antibiotics, giving rise to superbugs that are resistant to treatment.

How serious is the problem? A technical review from a USDA-contracted researcher found that MRSA, just one of the bacteria circultaing among humans, is now responsible for more deaths per year than AIDS. Mother Jones reported that the USDA put the review up online, but added a disclaimer shortly thereafter and then later pulled the entire report, which Mother Jones has made available as a PDF.

The FDA is technically responsible for regulating such drugs. But the agency has dragged its feet on enforcing strict regulations on antibiotic use. The Atlantic writes:

In December, the FDA tried to further justify its inaction by erasing the historic record. Back in 1977, the agency proposed to withdraw approval for the use of several antibiotics in animal feed based on findings published in two notices posted in the Federal Register. The notices containing the findings have been listed in the Federal Register for more than three decades. But just before Christmas a few weeks ago, the FDA pulled the notices. Soon after it buried its 35-year-old proposal, the agency tried to have it both ways. On January 5, it proposed banning off-label uses of a class of antibiotics known as cephalosporins on healthy livestock. That sounds like a step in the right direction, and the agency got some favorable press, but keep in mind that cephalosporins account for less than 0.25 percent of all antibiotics used in agriculture.

If all of that isn't enough, new research shows the problem is spreading beyond factory farm-raised meat. Researchers found no statistical difference in MRSA contamination between conventionally raised pork and meat from swine raised without antibiotics. They attribute that fact to contamination on the farm, by slaughterhouse workers or processing equipment that isn't thoroughly cleaned between uses.

So why isn't this story getting more attention? Nobody wants to suspect that their steak might come with a side of staph infection, and it's easier to think of our meat as originating in sterile styrofoam trays than address the realities of raising livestock.

America is no longer a primarily agricultural society; most Americans have no relationship to farming and what it entails. Proponents of big agriculture play on this, promoting antibiotic use as harmless or even healthy, despite scientific evidence to the contrary. Anyone who's battled a nasty bout of strep knows how great antibiotics can be, but the risks of routine use is more removed from most people's experience.

Food safety affects everyone, and the FDA has a responsibility to regulate harmful practices. When the effects of factory farming spread, via processing plants and workers, to non-conventionally raised food consumers have no recourse to protect themselves. The FDA needs to do more, and we need to be hearing more about it.