Political Bans on Antibiotics are Counterproductive
European Test Case: Increased Animal Disease, Mixed Human Health Benefit
In the mid-1990s, the European Union made a political decision to phase out the use of antibiotics as growth promoters (AGPs). Denmark, with a pork industry roughly the size of a pork herd in Iowa, led the way, instituting a [...]

Healthy animals produce healthy food. Humans and animals alike get sick, requiring the use of medication. For more than 40 years, antibiotics approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have been used to treat sick animals, prevent illness and maintain the health of animals. Livestock and poultry producers rely on these products so they [...]

FDA’S Approval Process for Food Animal Antibiotics: Tougher Than for Human Antibiotics
It takes more than a decade and tens of millions of dollars in research for an animal health company to obtain approval of an antibiotic for use in food-producing animals. The approval process is a stringent, science-based regulatory review by U.S. government authorities.
The [...]

Like human medicines, all animal medicines - including antibiotics - are subject to careful monitoring after they have been approved and marketed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Risk assessment is an important tool that federal agencies use to make public policy decisions about health and safety. It allows policymakers to measure and quantify the [...]