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Date Posted: 21:01:40 07/30/05 Sat
Author: Mary
Subject: FDA Bans Baytril

I thought some of yall might be interested in reading this. I know I have used Baytril on my birds in the past.

Subject: FDA Bans Baytril

Posted on Fri, Jul. 29, 2005

FDA bans use of animal drug
Bad effect on human counterpart cited
By ERIC PALMER
The Kansas City Star

After five years of debate about human health concerns,
the FDA ruled Thursday that an antibiotic made by Bayer
Animal Health in Shawnee cannot be used for treating
poultry.

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Lester
Crawford, a veterinarian, agreed with evidence that
widespread use of Baytril led to antibiotic-resistant
pathogens.

He said the evidence showed it made the human version of
the antibiotic less effective for treating bacterial food
poisoning in humans caused by those pathogens. The
food-borne illnesses often are contracted when handling
raw poultry.

The FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine has been trying
since October 2000 to ban the antibiotic drug, which is
used to treat respiratory illnesses in chickens and
turkeys but is similar to Cipro, a form of human
antibiotic. Poultry producers sometimes would put the
drug in drinking water, treating entire flocks when a few
birds got sick.

The ruling, which takes effect Sept. 12, is the first
time the government has pulled an animal drug because it
creates antibiotic-resistant pathogens.

Bob Walker, a spokesman for Bayer Animal Health, said the
company was surprised and disappointed by the ruling, and
was “meticulously studying the 126-page report” before
deciding what response it might take.

“It is not about sales. It is about the stance on science
and for the industry,” Walker said. “Bayer is a company
that in general is committed to science and scientific
evidence and everything we have seen pointed to its
continued use.”

Walker acknowledged that part of the fight had to do with
the precedent set by the ban in the face of what Bayer
saw as supporting science for continued use.

Abbott Laboratories in Illinois voluntarily removed its
version of the drug from the market, but Bayer contested
the FDA’s data and appealed the decision. While Bayer has
declined to comment on its sales of the drug, Abbott has
estimated that the total U.S. market for the drug is
about $15 million.

Supporters of the ban said the ruling would help keep
Cipro effective for treating the most serious cases of
food poisoning.

“This ruling is a good step forward to protect the public
by making sure this essential drug stays effective for
treating humans,” said David Wallinga, a senior scientist
and director of the Antibiotic Resistance Project at the
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy in
Minneapolis. The group is part of Keep Antibiotics
Working , a coalition that had been trying to limit the
use in animals of the class of antibiotics known as
fluoroquinolones.

For years, public health officials have warned that by
allowing wide use of antibiotics in animal feeds,
pathogens would become immune to them. Then common
medicines for humans would no longer work when those
pathogens made people sick.

In 2000, the FDA cited studies suggesting that after the
animal antibiotic was introduced in 1995, the percentage
of people who got sick from pathogens that resisted
common antibiotics went up significantly.

The issue landed on Crawford’s desk last year after Bayer
appealed an administrative judge’s finding that the drug
should not be used in poultry.

Because of the ongoing health debate, a number of poultry
producers have announced they no longer use the drugs in
chickens produced for human consumption. A number of
restaurant chains have said they told their suppliers not
to use the drug on chickens they buy.

About 500 people work for Bayer Animal Health, which is
owned by Bayer AG, the European drug conglomerate.

© 2005 Kansas City Star
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/12250139.htm

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