Samantha Simmons

April 6, 2007

On February 12, 2007, Senators Kennedy (D-Massachusetts), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Louise Slaughter (D-New York) introduced the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act of 2007 (PAMTA). PAMTA, if passed, will phase out the routine non-therapeutic use of important antibiotics in animal feed.

For years environmental activists have been concerned about the ramifications of the practice of routinely supplementing animal feed with antibiotics. Farmers choose to supplement feed, even for healthy animals, with antibiotics to offset the risks of infection associated with overcrowded and often unsanitary animal husbandry practices. Scientists, including many members of the World Health Organization and the National Academy of Scientists, and environmentalists claim that this practice promotes antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can be transferred to humans.

PAMTA offers farmers compensation to assist them in phasing out the antibiotics. PAMTA also requires drug companies to report the amount of antibiotics sold each year for animal feed.

More than 350 organizations, including the American Medical Association, support legislation to curtail the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in animal feed. The factory farming industry opposes PAMTA, arguing the routine use of antibiotics is necessary to protect animal health. Environmentalists counter this argument by pointing out that the overcrowded and confined conditions associated with factory farming are to blame for health risks to animals.

Sources:

Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act of 2007, S. 549, H.R. 962, 110th Cong. (2007) (available at http://thomas.loc.gov/).

Press Release, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Kennedy, Snowe, Slaughter Introduce Vital Antibiotics Legislation (Feb. 12, 2007), http://kennedy.senate.gov/newsroom/press_release.cfm?id=d609aaf1-1067-4461-9cce-87a7c31f278a.

Press Release, Sen. Louise M. Slaughter, Slaughter Introduces Bill to Curb Excessive Use of Antibiotics (Feb. 9, 2007), http://www.louise.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=765&Itemid.

Megan Tady, Lawmakers Move Against Over-use of Antibiotics on Farms, The New Standard, Feb. 15, 2007, http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/4330.

The Union of Concerned Scientists, The Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act of 2007, http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_environment/antibiotics_and_food/the-preservation-of-antibiotics-for-medical-treatment-act.html (last visited Apr. 9, 2007).