The Use of Drugs in Food Animals Benefits and Risks (1999) / Chapter Skim
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3 Benefits and Risks to Human Health
3 Benefits and Risks to Human Health
Pages 69-87
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From page 69... ...
. The threat of antibiotic resistance is most commonly associated with the emergence of resistance outbreaks in hospital settings and with improper human applications of antibiotic therapy (CDC 1994; IOM 1998)
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From page 70... ...
on the transfer of pathogens from farm animals to humans where issues of antibiotic resistance patterns in the invading organism are more frequently tracked. Many of these data come from case studies that followed reported infection and disease in higher risk groups, such as farmworkers (where epidemiological tracking has identified the source)
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From page 71... ...
No assurances can prevent ignorant action, accidents, or breaching of ethical standards in the use of animals that result in animalderived foods, being adulterated with drug residues. Sophisticated methods for monitoring residues can be used to remove tainted products from the food chain, but every carcass cannot be monitored.
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From page 72... ...
Zoonotic infection results from an animal pathogen that is transmitted directly to humans causing a similar infection. Examples of potentially lifethreatening zoonotic infections are tuberculosis, leptospirosis, toxoplasmosis, brucellosis, salmonellosis (DT-104)
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From page 73... ...
Some groups have argued for a substantial reduction in the use of antibiotic drugs in food-animal production. Others contend that microbial contamination of animal-food products would increase without the use of these drugs.
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From page 74... ...
• From an economic standpoint, the therapeutic use of antibiotics to combat active infection in individual animals and herds is unquestioned. The economic benefit of subtherapeutic antibiotic use is more often debated -- especially by those not aligned with the animal production industries.
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From page 75... ...
summarized data from 12 swine-finishing farms where, throughout the year, a veterinary preventive medicine scheme was implemented to curb the effects of infection on production characteristics and carcass rejections. The introduction of veterinary advice coupled with selective use of medication to eradicate pneumonia and swine dysentary led to a progressive decline throughout the year in offal losses and carcass rejections and decreased carcass rejection variation (Table 3–1)
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From page 76... ...
and the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA 1995) reported on circumstantial evidence linking subtherapeutic use of antibiotic drugs in farm animals to potential human health hazards.
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From page 77... ...
There are clear data from biomedical research to suggest that the natural host defenses against invading bacteria are increased with the use of antibiotics. Furthermore, several studies illustrate the fact that the use of subtherapeutic concentrations of antibiotics increases specific immunological responses of the host to the invading bacteria (Easmon and Desmond 1982; Veringa and Verhoef 1985; Hand et al.
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From page 78... ...
It must be open to all concerned parties. Antibiotic Resistance Trends A 1994 Science editorial, "The Biological Warfare of the Future," described the issue of antibiotic resistance as "a menace of major proportions to the health of the world" (Koshland 1994)
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From page 79... ...
reemphasized the human clinical stand on the use of antibiotics in agriculture as a health risk to humans, citing specific examples of avoparcin-related, vancomycin-resistant enterococci disease transfer from animals to humans and the speculation about the relationship between satA-gene-mediated streptogramines-resistance development and the use of virginiamycin in food animals. The concern is that the unwarranted use of antibiotics "can lead to unexpected consequences that limit medical choices." A full discussion of the problem of worldwide multidrug resistance is beyond the scope of this report, but in an era of crisis, defining the contributing factors is of paramount importance in designing solutions.
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From page 80... ...
Although he stated that the use of antibiotics in food-animal production had minimal consequences for the treatment of human infections in hospitals, those conclusions must be viewed from the perspective that the effects were minimal because there were alternative antibiotics that could be used to treat the infections. All of these studies reached valid conclusions based on the interpretation of their data; however, none fully accounted for the issues of interconnectivity between species, genera of bacteria, or human and animal ecosystems.
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From page 81... ...
Arguments persist that even if low-level resistance to antibiotics exists in bacteria from treated food animals, illness resulting from infection by organisms resistant to these drugs could easily be controlled by newer medications available for humans or animals strictly by prescription (AHI 1998)
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From page 82... ...
FDA regulations have effectively prevented allergenic, toxic, and carcinogenic animal drug residues from entering the food supply. A review of the medical literature from 1966 to 1994 (National Library of Medicine 1994)
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From page 83... ...
Drug residues are considered unintentional food additives and thus come under regulatory scrutiny, as do other chemicals added to or entering the food supply. The Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS)
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From page 84... ...
Most reactions resulted from β-lactam antibiotic residues in milk or meat. The allergic reactions occurred in people exposed to the antibiotic drug residues in the foods.
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From page 85... ...
A summary of those rarely reported allergic reactions follows, with a commentary on conditions resulting in the adverse responses. Four reports (two from the United States and two from England)
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From page 86... ...
demonstrate that, of almost 5,000 food-borne illness outbreaks, fewer than 10 percent were traced and confirmed to have arisen from meat or meat products. Protection of the public from animal products contaminated with animaldrug residues that could cause human toxic reactions could be considered much more effective than protection from products contaminated with microorganisms.
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From page 87... ...
A concern is that available data for critical review are scarce and that the information that is available is used opportunistically to support or refute claims by interested groups. In contrast to microbial contamination of food, drug residues appear to constitute a relatively lower risk as assessed by the available monitoring data.
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