Sample Policy Brief

Title: Keeping Antibiotics Out of Animal Feed

Problem:

Strains of bacteria (including those that cause gonorrhea, Strep throat and Staph infection) are becoming resistant to antibiotics at an alarming rate (about 1 percent per year). There are concerns that the treatments previously used to kill bacterial infections will no longer be effective. As a result, people will be sick with bacterial infections for longer and deaths from infections will increase especially in young children, the elderly, and those with weakened immune systems.

Large, industrial farms engage in practices that require their livestock (cattle, pigs, chicken, etc.) to be treated with antibiotics. Animals are raised in very close quarters in conditions that are often unsanitary. This raises the risk of bacterial infection. In addition, farmers want the livestock to grow as large as possible as quickly as possible and as cheaply as possible (to maximize profits), so livestock are fed corn even though their digestive systems are not suited for it (they should eat grass). Consuming large quantities of corn leads to bacterial infections which require treatment or preventative medication.

Stakeholders:

Physicians – want effective drugs to be available
Patients – want effective drugs to be available
Pharmaceutical companies – want to be able to sell the antibiotics they have developed and need lots of time to develop new antibiotics
Livestock farmers – want to maximize profits by raising animals quickly and cheaply
Consumers – want quality food, but at a low cost

Reason why change is necessary:

Including antibiotics in livestock feed means that they (and especially the bacteria that are living on, in, or around them) are constantly exposed to antibiotics. This low level of exposure does promote growth in livestock, but also promotes resistance in bacteria. Non-resistant bacteria are eliminated while bacteria fortunate enough to be born with mutations for resistance are able to survive and multiply. With time, resistant strains of bacteria found in food like E. coli could become more and more common leading to an increase in food sickness cases and deaths from it.

Recommended Action(s):

- Remove antibiotics from animal feed – This will remove one of the main causes of antibiotic resistance and slow the evolution of resistant bacteria.
- Improve conditions for livestock – Giving livestock more space to live and grow and removing corn from their diet will lower rates of infection and decrease the need for livestock to be given antibiotics.
- Continue to develop new antibiotics – The evolution of antibiotic resistance strains of bacteria is inevitable, so new antibiothcs will be necessary at some point.