WASHINGTON, April 1 (Reuters) - The Humane Society of
the United States
(HSUS) , the largest animal protection group in the United States, sued
the
federal government on Thursday in an effort to curtail the use of
antibiotics in
farm animals.
In the lawsuit, the group asked the Food and Drug
Administration to stop
farmers from using antibiotics to fatten farm animals.
The group argued that letting farmers use antibiotics to
promote growth was
contributing to the problem of "superbugs," bacteria that can infect
animals
and people and resist treatment. Adding antibiotics to animal feed is a
common
practice, even though scientists are not sure why it helps livestock
grow.
An FDA official said the agency would review and respond
to the Humane
Society's lawsuit.
The FDA is studying whether to limit antibiotic use in
farm animals to protect
humans from superbugs. The agency is taking public comments on the issue
until Tuesday. [Editor's note: The time for requested public comments
has
lapsed, but that shouldn't stop anyone from commenting anyway.]
Makers of animal drugs support monitoring superbugs but
oppose broad limits
on animal drug use.
The Humane Society said it supports using antibiotics to
treat diseases in farm
animals. But it does not think the drugs should be "squandered" just to
make
animals grow faster, said Melanie Adcock, vice president for Farm
Animals and
Sustainable Agriculture.
For further information, please see:
http://www.hsus.org/whatnew/antibiotics.html
HSUS e-mail:
hsus-webmaster@hsus.org
Source for this article: World Animal Net
http://worldanimal.net
To Comment to the FDA:
http://www.fda.gov/comments.html
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