FDA May Ban Antibiotics in Livestock Feed

The Jurist reports that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has issued an order to the FDA to continue proceedings, begun in 1977, that could lead to the removal of penicillin and tetracycline from agricultural livestock feed. If companies are unable to demonstrate that these antibiotics are safe, the FDA must prohibit their inclusion in feed. As Gardiner Harris writes in the New York Times, use of antibiotics in livestock feed can lead to the growth of antibiotic-resistant “superbugs,” a significant public health concern.