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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe FDA's Christmas Present for Factory Farms
from Mother Jones:
On Dec. 22, while even the nerdiest observers were thinking more about Christmas plans than food-safety policy, the FDA snuck a holiday gift to the meat industry into the Federal Register. The agency announced it had essentially given up any pretense of regulating antibiotic abuse on factory farms, at least for the time being.
Wired's diligent Maryn McKenna has the background. She reports that way back in 1977when livestock farming was much less industrialized than it is todaythe FDA announced its intention to limit use of key antibiotics on animal farms. The reason: By that time, it was already obvious that routine use of these drugs would generate antibiotic-resistant pathogens that endanger humans.
In the decades since, the agency has ruminated and mulled, appointed committees and consulted experts, all the while delaying making a final decision on the matter. Meanwhile, the meat industry built a multibillion-dollar business based on stuffing animals by the thousands into tight spaces amid their own waste. To keep them alive and growing to slaughter amid such conditions, feedlot operators give their animals daily doses of antibiotics. The FDA recently revealed that factory animal farms now burn through fully 80 percent of all antibiotics consumed in the United States.
With the stealthy holiday surprise it dropped last week (full text here), the agency declared it would forgo actual regulatory action and instead "focus its efforts for now on the potential for voluntary reform and the promotion of the judicious use of antimicrobials in the interest of public health." ..............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2011/12/fda-quietly-delivers-christmas-present-meat-industry
SpiralHawk
(32,944 posts)with all the chem crap and genetically mutant wankery in corporate industrialized 'foodlike product'
Humans are potentially throwing away the greatest medical advance in history.
So that Tyson and IBP can add a couple of bucks to their share price!?
(Not to mention the inhumane conditions for the animals)
When an MRSA-type bacterium wipes out half the human population,
the survivors can look back and say "At least we had cheap hot dogs."
Side effects of FDA regulatory capture may include death.
handmade34
(22,756 posts)that the "survivors" most likely will not have been eating the hot dogs
"Vulnerabilities in FDA's Oversight of State Food Facility Inspections"
http://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-02-09-00430.pdf
"Each year, 128,000 Americans are hospitalized and 3,000 die after consuming contaminated foods and beverages. FDA is responsible for safeguarding the Nations food supply and for routinely inspecting food facilities. In addition to conducting its own inspections, FDA relies on State agencies to conduct inspections on its behalf; however, in recent years, concerns have been raised about the rigor of these State inspections. For example, the peanut processing plant responsible for a 2009 salmonella outbreak was inspected multiple times by a State agency working on behalf of FDA. This outbreak resulted in one of the largest food recalls in U.S. history and has led to serious questions about the effectiveness of State food facility inspections. Because of concerns about food facility inspections conducted by State agencies, this review was requested by the House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies..."