 |
|
|
************************************************************************** |
E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE |
************************************************************************** |
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
FDA Grants Public Hearing on Proposed Ban of Bayer's Cipro-Like Antibiotic for Poultry Use; Groups Urge FDA to Act Swiftly |
|
WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Feb. 19 -/E-Wire/-- "Keep Antibiotics Working: The Campaign to End Antibiotic Overuse" today urged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to move quickly to take final action on its proposed ban of Baytril, a Cipro-like antibiotic manufactured by Bayer to treat sick poultry. On Friday, Food Chemical News reported that the FDA will publish a Federal Register notice tomorrow that it will grant Bayer a public hearing. "Regrettably, it has taken the FDA almost a year just to announce that it will initiate a formal hearing in response to Bayer's challenge of the agency's proposed ban on Baytril in poultry. Given that Baytril can remain on the market until the hearing process is completed, and that other hearings have taken up to 20 years, the FDA must step up its pace in reaching a final decision if public health is to be protected," said Karen Florini, senior attorney with Environmental Defense.
|
The FDA's October, 2000 proposal to ban the use of Baytril in poultry is based on findings that such use contributes to antibiotic-resistance in certain bacteria that cause severe food poisoning in people. Fluoroquinolones, a category that includes both Baytril and Cipro, are a critically important class of antibiotics for treating severe bacterial infections in people.
|
Keep Antibiotics Working is also renewing its call for Bayer to voluntarily withdraw Baytril from the market. The only other manufacturer of fluoroquinolones for poultry, Abbott Laboratories, complied with the FDA's ban even before it was formally proposed. By contrast, Bayer is contesting the ban, even though the American Medical Association, the American Public Health Association, and other medical groups have urged Bayer to withdraw Baytril voluntarily. In addition, The New York Times reported on Feb. 10 that McDonald's, Wendy's, and Popeyes no longer buy chicken treated with Baytril.
|
"McDonald's, Wendy's, and Popeyes have taken steps to protect public health," said David Wallinga, M.D., antibiotic resistance project director at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. "Bayer's choice has been to put profit ahead of public health. It should be the reverse."
|
Using medically important antibiotics (or closely related drugs) in farm animals hastens the development of bacteria resistant to those drugs. People infected with resistant bacteria stay sick longer, or don't recover at all. Everyone is at risk from antibiotic resistance, but children, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems are particularly at risk.
|
--- Keep Antibiotics Working: The Campaign to End Antibiotics Overuse, is a coalition of health, consumer, agricultural, environmental and other advocacy groups, with over 9 million members, dedicated to eliminating an important cause of antibiotic resistance -- the inappropriate use of antibiotics in farm animals. For more information, visit www.KeepAntibioticsWorking.com. For information on Bayer's noncompliance with the FDA's proposed ban on fluoroquinolones in poultry, visit www.Bayerwatch.com.
|
************************************************************************** |
To Transmit Your News Over E-Wire, visit http://www.ewire.com or
call 1-800-343-9013. E-Wire Is Broadcast To Millions Of Readers Worldwide |
************************************************************************** |
|
|
|
|
