Pros And Cons Of Veterinary Feed Directive

The American Public Health Association strongly urges the U.S Department of Health and Human Services to revisit and revise the current Veterinary Feed Directive. The Food and Drug Administration addresses the issue of antibiotic resistance by creating and implementing new regulations that acknowledge and limits the use of antibiotics on farm animals, such as swine and poultry. Beginning January 1, 2017, the Veterinary Feed Directive took effect per the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The aim of the directive is to restrict the use of antibiotics so that resistance will decrease. The directive targets specific antibiotics that are labeled as medically important in treating human illnesses but are used to increase the growth of farm animals. A veterinarian is required to ensure that antibiotics are administered appropriately in animals, even if the animals are not intended for food

The Department of Health and Human Services should urge the Food and Drug Administration to extend the Veterinary Feed Directive to include all livestock. When there is a requirement that all livestock should be included in the Veterinary Feed Directive, the chance of antimicrobial resistance occurring in the general human population could further decrease. Antibiotic resistance serves as an unnecessary burden for the currently overworked health care system. Antibiotic resistance cannot be monitored and controlled if all livestock are not included in the directive. The Veterinary Feed Directive solely targets cattle, swine, and goat, however; the FDA fails to mention other meat-producing animals such as bison, elk, and boar in the directive. Bison, elk, and boar remain available for human consumers nationwide and should be included as well in the directive. The directive should be amended to include all meat-producing