Victory on Antibiotic Misuse: SFMS-Sparked Campaign Prompts Healthy Regulations October 14, 2015 Advocacy, Public Health, SFMS Member antibiotics in livestock, Philip Lee, SB 27 0 California Governor Jerry Brown signed the nation’s strictest regulations on the use of antibiotics in healthy livestock, a move lauded by public health and infectious disease experts. SB 27 will curb the overuse of antibiotics in livestock, which limits the effectiveness of the medicines in both animals and people and contributes to the spread of dangerous, drug-resistant superbugs. The law, which takes effect in 2018, requires medications given to livestock to be approved by a veterinarian. It also eliminates the availability of livestock antibiotics for over-the-counter sales. And therein lies yet another story of SFMS advocacy: Back in 2001, SFMS convened an invitational meeting of medical and public health leaders, chaired by UCSF Chancellor Emeritus Philip Lee, that resulted in new CMA and AMA policy urging curtailing of antibiotics in food (a report had just indicated that over 70% of all antibiotics were used on farms, mostly as growth-promoters and subtherapeutic levels—i.e., perfect for breeding resistant bacteria). Further advocacy pushed at least four national bills to make such use less damaging, as the evidence continually built that resistant strains were spreading from farms and feedlots to humans. Each bill was defeated by heavy lobbying—until now. SB 27 was heavily contested and initially opposed by CMA until revised. Dr. Lee and other luminaries then supported it, as did the California Veterinary Association, for the first time. The stringent new requirements will hopefully spread to other states and serve as the impetus for national policy. Click here to view the bill details. Comments are closed.
