Pew Campaign On Human Health, Ind. Farming, & Healthcare W/out Harm To Hold News Conference Calling For End To Overuse Of Antibiotics In Food Animals

Dozens of Hospitals Announce Decision to Buy Meat Raised without Antibiotics to Ensure Patient Health

On the eve of a July 14 hearing conducted by the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health to examine the use of antibiotics in animal agriculture, the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming, in collaboration with Health Care Without Harm, will hold an audio news conference on the need to end the overuse of these drugs in meat production. The call is scheduled for 11:00 AM ET on Tuesday, July 13.

During the news conference, Health Care Without Harm will announce the numbers of hospitals and clinicians that support elimination of the routine use of antibiotics and that are changing their purchasing practices to include only meat raised without antibiotics.

WHAT: News conference on the use of antibiotics in animal agriculture

WHEN: Tuesday, July 13, 2010
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM ET

WHERE: Conference call number, 1-800-247-5110
Pass code, PAMTA

WHO: U.S. Representative Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), lead sponsor of the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act/S.619 (invited)

Jamie Harvie, Institute for a Sustainable Future, chair of Health Care Without Harm's
Healthy Food in Health Care Initiative, Duluth, MN

Dr. Lance Price, director of the Translational Genomics Research Institute's Center for
Metagenomics and Human Health, Flagstaff, AZ

Diane Imrie, R.D., director, Food Services, Fletcher Allen Health Care, Burlington, VT

Dr. Gail Hansen, July 14 hearing witness and senior officer of the Pew Campaign on
Human Health and Industrial Farming, Washington, D.C.

Laura Rogers, project director of the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial
Farming, Washington, D.C. (moderator)

Experts estimate that up to 70 percent of the antibiotics sold in the United States are given to healthy food animals on industrial farms to promote growth and compensate for the effects of overcrowding and unsanitary conditions. Four decades of scientific research has demonstrated that feeding antibiotics to food animals over a long period of time promotes the development of dangerous strains of drug-resistant bacteria that can infect humans who work with these animals or process or consume their meat. Despite supply chain obstacles, the healthcare community is using its purchasing power to shift toward meat and poultry produced without antibiotics and is advocating for restrictions on the non-therapeutic uses of antibiotics.