FDA estimates antibiotic use in livestock

Last Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration quietly published its first-ever estimate of the amount of antibiotics sold for use in livestock animals in the United States. The number: 29 million pounds in 2009.

Along with the estimate of antibiotics sold, the FDA released the names of antimicrobial drugs approved for use in food-producing animals. According to Siobhan DeLancey, staff member in the FDA Office of Public Affairs, the Animal Drugs User Fee Act requires the FDA to collect and publish this information annually.

"This is the first year, so its significance is yet to be determined," DeLancey said. "Its real purpose is to provide a benchmark for comparison of future data."

The FDA report comes on the heels of the agency's draft guidance released last July that recommended limiting the use of antibiotics in livestock agriculture. At the time, Joshua M. Sharfstein, the FDA's principal deputy commissioner, said antibiotics should be used only to protect the health of an animal and not to help it grow or improve the way it digests its feed.  

"FDA concludes that the overall weight of evidence available to date supports the conclusion that using medically important antimicrobial drugs for production purposes is not in the interest of protecting and promoting the public health," Sharfstein said in his testimony at the time. "Developing strategies for reducing antimicrobial resistance is critically important for protecting both public and animal health."

Delancey said the FDA "is committed to prevention of antimicrobial resistance" and that agency staff members are currently reviewing public comments on the draft guidance.