FDA moves timidly against antibiotic use on farms: Our view

The Editorial Board | USATODAY

It sounds like the plot for a 1950s sci-fi film: Bacteria, once easily controlled by medicine, morph into unstoppable, drug-defying monsters. They lurk in hospitals, schools or out in the community, where they sicken and sometimes kill.

Scared yet? You should be. Movie hype aside, this is fact, not fiction.

Many bacteria that once were controlled by antibiotics have developed immunity as these drugs have been overprescribed to patients and used cavalierly in food animals to promote growth or prevent infections.

Every year, drug-defying bugs sicken 2 million people and kill at least 23,000. "If we don't act now, our medicine cabinet will be empty and we won't have the antibiotics we need to save lives," warns Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Despite the growing threat, the latest measures to combat it are pathetically weak. More than 35 years after first moving to tackle antibiotic overuse on farms, and failing to follow through, the Food and Drug Administration released new "guidance" this month for drug companies. It isn't mandatory, and companies have three years to comply.

If the government needs more reasons to move more aggressively, evidence keeps piling up:

A deadly form of MRSA, an antibiotic-resistant bacteria once confined to health care facilities, is now striking healthy people in community settings, according to a USA TODAY examination. MRSA is making its biggest gains in children, with a 10%-a-year rise from 2005 to 2010, the CDC found.

Last Thursday, Consumer Reports magazine reported that it tested 316 raw chicken breasts purchased across the country and found that nearly half were contaminated by drug-resistant bacteria.

A national outbreak of antibiotic-resistant salmonella in chicken started in October and sickened its 416th victim on Dec. 1. Nearly 40% of victims have been hospitalized.

Not every drug-resistant bug develops on large industrial farms, but preventing unnecessary use in food animals is a good place to start. In 2011 alone, 1.9 million pounds of penicillin and 12.3 million pounds of tetracycline were sold for use in food animals. No prescriptions necessary.

The FDA's new "guidance" asks drug makers to stop selling certain antibiotics — those important to humans — for promoting animals' growth.Drug makers have three years to comply voluntarily. Then farmers and huge industrial producers will need a veterinarian's prescription to use antibiotics for treating, controlling or preventing disease.

Trouble is, prevention opens a huge loophole. "The fear is that prevention uses will look a whole lot like growth promotion and just be called something different," says Keeve Nachman, a scientist at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future.

Many veterinarians work for giant food producers and are being asked to make decisions that could cost their employers millions. That, plus the three-year compliance window and the FDA's inability to track antibiotic usage, adds up to a pretty limp weapon against drug-defying bugs. The FDA has the power to mandate change, so why is it just asking?

Decades ago, this might have been viewed as an important first step. It's certainly more than the FDA has done in a generation — but far less than is needed as bacteria grow hardier every day and drugs grow less effective. That's a scary story.

USA TODAY's editorial opinions are decided by its Editorial Board, separate from the news staff. Most editorials are coupled with an opposing view — a unique USA TODAY feature.