Report: FDA Turning a Blind Eye to Growing Superbug Threat

A new report from the NRDC claims that the FDA effectively turned a blind eye to the risks associated with antibiotics it approved for agricultural use. These antibiotics were allowed to be used in livestock despite posing a “high risk” to human antibiotic resistance.

According to the NRDC these drugs were allowed to remain on the market as additives in animal feed and water “despite an internal review that raised significant red flags…” and allowing the drugs to be distributed “likely exposed humans to antibiotic resistant bacteria through the food supply.”

Related: FDA’s LackLuster Approach to Combating Superbugs in the Food Industry

Beyond this, 30 antibiotics, currently in use, would not be likely to gain FDA approval under current FDA guidelines, as “drugmakers have not submitted sufficient information to establish their safety.

“This discovery is disturbing but not surprising given the FDA’s poor track record with dealing this issue. It’s just more overwhelming evidence that FDA – In the face of a mounting antibiotic resistance health crisis – is turning a blind eye to industry’s misuse of these miracle drugs,” said Carmen Cordova, NRDC microbiologist and lead author of the new NRDC analysis.

Related: CDC: Factory Farms’ Use of Antibiotics Poses Worldwide Health Threat

quoted from here