National Pork Board Calls for Balanced Approach to Antimicrobial Use
Farmscape for January 24, 2003 (Episode 1164) The US based National Pork Board is calling for a balanced thoughtful approach to addressing concerns related to antibiotic resistance and the use of antimicrobials in animal agriculture. The US Food and Drug Administration is in the process of developing new guidance documents which will outline, to the antibiotic manufacturing industry, what will be looked for as it approves the use of antimicrobials. Pork Board Assistant Vice President Veterinary Issues Dr. Paul Sundberg says the FDA talks about a step wise evaluation process which could lead to more restrictions and less availability for veterinary use. Clip-Dr. Paul Sundberg-National Pork Board One thing that the check-off and the National Pork Board has been very up front about is that the producers and the veterinarians need timely and cost effective availability of antimicrobials. That is the key. We don't have the armamentarium of antibiotics that the human side of medicine enjoys. We have to use them wisely and if there is an effort to further restrict use and further restrict availability that could have consequences that may affect a variety of other things other than simply antimicrobial resistance. It may affect food safety, it may affect animal welfare, animal health and even the environment so there's a lot of things to consider here. Our check-off has been involved in providing the FDA with a lot of information about how we do business, how pigs are raised and how producers strive to use antibiotics correctly, judiciously and work with their veterinarians. Dr. Sundberg points out the issues applicable to human medicine, the availability of antibiotics, the development of new products and diagnostics methods and research into antimicrobial resistance, are also applicable to veterinary medicine. For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane. *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council