Res. No. 2173

Resolution calling upon the United States Congress to pass and the President to sign H.R.1549/S.619, the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act of 2009, legislation that would prohibit the routine use of certain types of antibiotics in farm animals in an effort to reduce the spread of dangerous bacteria in humans.

By Council Members Vallone Jr., Barron, James, Weprin and Gerson

Whereas, For the past sixty years, the use of antibiotic drugs has turned bacterial infections into treatable conditions, rather than the life-threatening episodes they once were; and

Whereas, Physicians depend upon antibiotics such as penicillin, tetracycline, and erythromycin to treat many illnesses caused by bacteria, including ear and skin infections, pneumonia, food poisoning, meningitis, and other life-threatening infections; and

Whereas, Antibiotics are also crucial in treating infections that may result from medical procedures such as surgery, chemotherapy and transplants; and

Whereas, However, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that doctors are treating an increasing number of bacterial infections that fail to respond to routine antibiotic treatment; and

Whereas, The CDC believes that the widespread, excessive and inappropriate use of antibiotics increases the likelihood that bacteria will become resistant to the antibiotic; and

Whereas, While an individual may be killing infectious bacteria each time he or she consumes an antibiotic, the likelihood that resistant germs may be left to grow and multiply increases when an antibiotic is repeatedly used; and

Whereas, For instance, one out of six cases of Campylobacter infection, the most common cause of food poisoning, is resistant to fluoroquinolones, the drug most often used to treat severe food-borne illness; and

Whereas, However, the resistance exhibited by Campylobacter infection to fluroquinolones was negligible prior to the drug being approved for use in poultry; and

Whereas, The Union of Concerned Scientists, a national non-profit science advocacy organization, has estimated that as much as 70 percent of antibiotics used in the United States is given to healthy chickens, pigs and cattle to encourage their growth or to prevent illnesses; and

Whereas, According to the CDC, antibiotics routinely given to healthy livestock and poultry include many that are identical, or nearly so, to drugs used in treating humans; and

Whereas, Therefore, the excessive use of antibiotics given to healthy livestock and poultry enhances the potential development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and thus can negatively effect the human population; and

Whereas, Additionally, antibiotic-resistant bacteria also lead to higher health care costs as individuals will often require more expensive drugs and extended hospital stays; and

Whereas, The issue of antibiotic resistance is of particular concern for children, who have both the highest rates of antibiotic use and the highest rates of infections caused by antibiotic-resistant pathogens; and

Whereas, On March 17, 2009, Congresswoman Louise M. Slaughter introduced H.R.1549, in an attempt to ensure that the effectiveness of antibiotics is preserved for the treatment of human and animal diseases; and

Whereas, This legislation would eliminate the non-health related use in livestock of medically important antibiotics and would increase the level of scrutiny for new antibiotics that would be used to treat animals, but would not restrict the use of antibiotics to treat sick animals; and

Whereas, Farm organizations such as the National Pork Producers Council, an association of 43 state pork producer organizations representing more than 67,000 individuals, oppose the legislation because they maintain the bill would ban the use of health products used to prevent diseases among livestock and poultry, while also requiring all “critical anti-microbial animal drugs” to go through a second Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval process; and

 Whereas, However, the emerging health crisis of antibiotic resistance has lead several associations and organizations, including the American Medical Association, American College of Preventive Medicine, the American Public Health Association, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, and the World Health Organization to support the legislation and oppose the use of antibiotics in healthy farm animals; and

Whereas, On July 13, 2009, Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, the Principal Deputy Commissioner of the FDA, expressed the Obama administration’s support for limitations on the use of antibiotics in livestock contending that the use of antimicrobials should be limited to those situations where human and animal health are protected; and

Whereas, It is critical that the Country take every necessary step to protect humans from antibiotic-resistant bacteria; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon United States Congress to pass and the President to sign H.R.1549/S.619, the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act of 2009, legislation that would prohibit the routine use of certain types of antibiotics in farm animals in an effort to reduce the spread of dangerous bacteria in humans.

LS# 7665

7/29/09

MF/JM