Ceased Operations May15, 2009
Message: Pharmaceutical Maker Rants against Call to Eliminate Subtherapeutic Antibiotics
Alpharma, Inc. of Bridgewater, New Jersey, describes itself as "a global leader in the development, registration, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceutical products and technologies for food producing animals." Alpharma has launched a desperate propaganda campaign against the World Health Organization (WHO), organized religion, the United Nations, the European Union, a number of US government regulatory agencies, and anyone raising the growing alarm over "Antibiotic resistant bacteria".
In its October 2007 newsletter, "For the Record", subtitled, " Straight talk about antibiotic use in food animal production presented by ALPHARMA Inc., Animal Health," Alpharma characterizes those opposed to the use of subtherapeutic antibiotics in farm animals as "professional hand-wringers" and entitles one article, "WHO now stands for We'll Hazard our Opinion". In the article that follows, Alpharma relies on unfounded characterization, prejudice, profit-motivated snobbery and political fear-mongering, rather than science, to defend the pharmaceutical industry's position.
"If to those concerned about today’s “Nanny State” the federal government has become Mary Poppins to the United States, then surely the World Health Organization (WHO) qualifies as Mommie Dearest to the World. Like its parent United Nations — which during the last half century has steadily mission-crept its way outside the original charge of preventing a third World War toward wider goals like eradicating poverty and promoting democracy — WHO’s bureaucratic reach has relentlessly exceeded its grasp." "It doesn’t take a oneworld conspiracy theorist to recognize the implications of inviting WHO’s Precautionary Principle into the U.S. regulatory process.”
"For more than half a century, farmers have used numerous antibiotics to improve the health and productivity of pigs, chickens, cattle and other livestock. Today, a chorus of professional hand-wringers claim farmers are playing with a “ticking time bomb” that endangers human health. But the only clock ticking is the one counting down how long it will be until our industry is no longer able to provide abundant animal protein to a hungry world. Using scientifically sound tools like antibiotics is not a luxury. It is a necessity if we are to keep a healthy supply of meat, milk, poultry and eggs within the budget of consumers. It's time to look beyond sensationalism.”
Alpharma includes itself when referring to "our industry," despite the fact that Alpharma's industry is not farming, but the "development, registration, manufacturing and marketing" of pharmaceuticals. This newsletter is, of course, part of their thinly veiled marketing campaign. Alpharma goes on to mischaracterize WHO's position as equating largescale animal production with worldwide population explosion and risky sexual behavior. Alpharma fails to see any link between an "unprecedented" number of antibiotic resistant bacteria emerging around the world and the continued use of subtherapeutic antibiotics as growth promoters. Alpharma tells us there are "risks to over-precaution," and mischaracterizes the growing movement to ban subtherapeutic antibiotic use for growth promotion as an attempt to ban ALL agricultural use of antibiotics, including current therapeutic treatment of bacterial infections.
In Alpharma's Volume 5, Issue 3 — August 2006 "For the Record", they attempt to portray public health concerns over the widespread use of subtherapeutic antibiotics as part of a larger movement that is linked to an "army" of environmental activists, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and other "extremists". They warn the reader, "What may seem at first glance like only a handful of actions at the state level to impose restrictions on animal antibiotic use is closely connected to a much wider movement to control other unfashionable animal-agricultural practices. Several states are currently involved in legislation either to impose restrictions on animal agriculture or to enact preemptive legislation to prevent them.”
Just in case anybody was overlooked in this grand conspiracy to deprive you of your god-given right to stimulate the growth of your chickens and pigs with subtherapeutic antibiotics, Alpharma issues the following warning: "One important source of non-governmental local authority has involved itself in the movement against agricultural antibiotics: the church. These religious organizations have endorsed federal legislation that would ban most [antibiotic] uses:" Alpharma then goes on to list twelve, what they consider to be religious, "activist," anti-agriculture organizations, such as Catholic Charities, The United Church of Christ Network for Environmental & Economic Responsibility, The National Catholic Rural Life Conference, and The Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island.
Alpharma encourages concerned readers to start a "grass roots" movement to resist the perceived anti-agriculture activists who are threatening to take away our rights. Alpharma urges readers to contact their legislators and express their concern before it is too late.
Alpharma must have somehow missed the following statement issued by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety Research Information Office, in which they refer to concerns expressed by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC).
“The emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AR) among food-borne and commensal bacteria associated with food animal production has become an important global issue. Despite growing concerns, information regarding the development, prevalence, spread and persistence of AR in food-borne and commensal bacteria is limited, and AR's impact on human health is poorly understood.”
"Some facets of antimicrobial resistance (AR) cut across all the components of preharvest food safety. AR is considered separately because of its extreme visibility and importance to food safety, human illness and the livestock industry. Both the CDC and the FDA believe that the use of antibiotics in animal production, in particular antibiotics used in feed, and for growth promotion, is a major cause of antibiotic resistance in humans with resulting longer duration of illness and/or untreatable illness with more severe sequelae. The result is that it is more and more difficult for antibiotics for animals to receive approval from the FDA, with the result that the livestock industry is being deprived of valuable tools they have previously relied upon to maintain healthy animals and flocks, and provide consumers with safe and affordable animal food products.”
There is strong evidence that the regular use of antibiotics in the human food chain has resulted in the emergence of mutant forms of bacteria that are progressively more resistant to existing antibiotics.
In response to growing concern, the European Union and Japan have implemented a complete ban on subtherapeutic use of most antibiotics, although these drugs are still widely used by prescription. Australia, too, has eliminated all use of subtherapeutic antibiotics in food animals. Conversely, the United States continues to utilize subtherapeutic antibiotics in animal production, and recent bills that have been introduced in the US Congress, that would ban the use of “growth promotion” antibiotics, have failed to pass. Several states are now considering similar legislation, despite intense lobbying by the pharmaceutical industry.
The continued use of subtherapeutic antibiotics and hormones in the United States has had a negative impact on trade negotiations, and very little US grown meat qualifies for export to the EU or Japan. As antibiotic-resistant infections become more virulent and lethal, there is increasing international pressure for a complete ban on the use of subtherapeutic antibiotics in the human food chain.
US consumers are becoming aware of the serious consequences of antibiotic use as a growth promoter since antibiotic-resistant infections, such as the deadly superbug Methicillan Resistant Staphyloccus Aureus (MRSA), dubbed “Mersa”, have become a significant public health threat.
A growing number of consumers are demanding meat products from antibiotic-free animals. The demand for organically produced poultry has risen 300% since 2000. McDonald’s Corporation has responded by announcing that its suppliers would be required to eliminate the use of all subtherapeutic antibiotics in production of food served in McDonald’s restaurants. As a result, several US poultry producers, including Tyson Foods, have also announced their intention to abandon the practice of using subtherapeutic antibiotics as growth promoters. The abandonment of this outdated practice is a beneficial marketing and public health decision, but at the same time, it deprives the producers of all the benefits that the use of subtherapeutic antibiotics had previously provided, including resistance to infectious bacteria.
Production without subtherapeutic antibiotics, or a suitable substitute, is management intensive, and less profitable. There is now an increasing demand for an effective, affordable, “all-natural” substitute that does not stimulate resistance, yet provides the same benefits afforded by the use of antibiotics. An effective replacement for subtherapeutic antibiotics and hormones would have to decrease mortality, decrease condemnations, improve feed efficiency, and improve poultry or livestock health, without increasing cost.
Global leaders "in the development, registration, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceutical products and technologies for food producing animals," like Alpharma, seem to have little concern about emerging global health issues, and fail to acknowledge the growing concern over the "development, prevalence, spread and persistence of antibiotic resistant" bacteria.
Ironically, the cost of agricultural antibiotics continues to rise as pharmaceutical companies attempt to hold on to profit margins and foster customer loyalty through an aggressive campaign of propaganda and paranoia. Regardless of one's degree of participation in organized religion, political persuasion, identification with activist groups such as PETA, or belief in "oneworld conspiracy theories", the increase of antibiotic-resistant bacteria-caused illnesses, such as "Mersa", continues to claim casualties. It is time for all of us to see the use of growth promoting subtherapeutic antibiotics in our food animals as the serious public health issue it truly is.
In its October 2007 newsletter, "For the Record", subtitled, " Straight talk about antibiotic use in food animal production presented by ALPHARMA Inc., Animal Health," Alpharma characterizes those opposed to the use of subtherapeutic antibiotics in farm animals as "professional hand-wringers" and entitles one article, "WHO now stands for We'll Hazard our Opinion". In the article that follows, Alpharma relies on unfounded characterization, prejudice, profit-motivated snobbery and political fear-mongering, rather than science, to defend the pharmaceutical industry's position.
"If to those concerned about today’s “Nanny State” the federal government has become Mary Poppins to the United States, then surely the World Health Organization (WHO) qualifies as Mommie Dearest to the World. Like its parent United Nations — which during the last half century has steadily mission-crept its way outside the original charge of preventing a third World War toward wider goals like eradicating poverty and promoting democracy — WHO’s bureaucratic reach has relentlessly exceeded its grasp." "It doesn’t take a oneworld conspiracy theorist to recognize the implications of inviting WHO’s Precautionary Principle into the U.S. regulatory process.”
"For more than half a century, farmers have used numerous antibiotics to improve the health and productivity of pigs, chickens, cattle and other livestock. Today, a chorus of professional hand-wringers claim farmers are playing with a “ticking time bomb” that endangers human health. But the only clock ticking is the one counting down how long it will be until our industry is no longer able to provide abundant animal protein to a hungry world. Using scientifically sound tools like antibiotics is not a luxury. It is a necessity if we are to keep a healthy supply of meat, milk, poultry and eggs within the budget of consumers. It's time to look beyond sensationalism.”
Alpharma includes itself when referring to "our industry," despite the fact that Alpharma's industry is not farming, but the "development, registration, manufacturing and marketing" of pharmaceuticals. This newsletter is, of course, part of their thinly veiled marketing campaign. Alpharma goes on to mischaracterize WHO's position as equating largescale animal production with worldwide population explosion and risky sexual behavior. Alpharma fails to see any link between an "unprecedented" number of antibiotic resistant bacteria emerging around the world and the continued use of subtherapeutic antibiotics as growth promoters. Alpharma tells us there are "risks to over-precaution," and mischaracterizes the growing movement to ban subtherapeutic antibiotic use for growth promotion as an attempt to ban ALL agricultural use of antibiotics, including current therapeutic treatment of bacterial infections.
In Alpharma's Volume 5, Issue 3 — August 2006 "For the Record", they attempt to portray public health concerns over the widespread use of subtherapeutic antibiotics as part of a larger movement that is linked to an "army" of environmental activists, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and other "extremists". They warn the reader, "What may seem at first glance like only a handful of actions at the state level to impose restrictions on animal antibiotic use is closely connected to a much wider movement to control other unfashionable animal-agricultural practices. Several states are currently involved in legislation either to impose restrictions on animal agriculture or to enact preemptive legislation to prevent them.”
Just in case anybody was overlooked in this grand conspiracy to deprive you of your god-given right to stimulate the growth of your chickens and pigs with subtherapeutic antibiotics, Alpharma issues the following warning: "One important source of non-governmental local authority has involved itself in the movement against agricultural antibiotics: the church. These religious organizations have endorsed federal legislation that would ban most [antibiotic] uses:" Alpharma then goes on to list twelve, what they consider to be religious, "activist," anti-agriculture organizations, such as Catholic Charities, The United Church of Christ Network for Environmental & Economic Responsibility, The National Catholic Rural Life Conference, and The Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island.
Alpharma encourages concerned readers to start a "grass roots" movement to resist the perceived anti-agriculture activists who are threatening to take away our rights. Alpharma urges readers to contact their legislators and express their concern before it is too late.
Alpharma must have somehow missed the following statement issued by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety Research Information Office, in which they refer to concerns expressed by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC).
“The emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AR) among food-borne and commensal bacteria associated with food animal production has become an important global issue. Despite growing concerns, information regarding the development, prevalence, spread and persistence of AR in food-borne and commensal bacteria is limited, and AR's impact on human health is poorly understood.”
"Some facets of antimicrobial resistance (AR) cut across all the components of preharvest food safety. AR is considered separately because of its extreme visibility and importance to food safety, human illness and the livestock industry. Both the CDC and the FDA believe that the use of antibiotics in animal production, in particular antibiotics used in feed, and for growth promotion, is a major cause of antibiotic resistance in humans with resulting longer duration of illness and/or untreatable illness with more severe sequelae. The result is that it is more and more difficult for antibiotics for animals to receive approval from the FDA, with the result that the livestock industry is being deprived of valuable tools they have previously relied upon to maintain healthy animals and flocks, and provide consumers with safe and affordable animal food products.”
There is strong evidence that the regular use of antibiotics in the human food chain has resulted in the emergence of mutant forms of bacteria that are progressively more resistant to existing antibiotics.
In response to growing concern, the European Union and Japan have implemented a complete ban on subtherapeutic use of most antibiotics, although these drugs are still widely used by prescription. Australia, too, has eliminated all use of subtherapeutic antibiotics in food animals. Conversely, the United States continues to utilize subtherapeutic antibiotics in animal production, and recent bills that have been introduced in the US Congress, that would ban the use of “growth promotion” antibiotics, have failed to pass. Several states are now considering similar legislation, despite intense lobbying by the pharmaceutical industry.
The continued use of subtherapeutic antibiotics and hormones in the United States has had a negative impact on trade negotiations, and very little US grown meat qualifies for export to the EU or Japan. As antibiotic-resistant infections become more virulent and lethal, there is increasing international pressure for a complete ban on the use of subtherapeutic antibiotics in the human food chain.
US consumers are becoming aware of the serious consequences of antibiotic use as a growth promoter since antibiotic-resistant infections, such as the deadly superbug Methicillan Resistant Staphyloccus Aureus (MRSA), dubbed “Mersa”, have become a significant public health threat.
A growing number of consumers are demanding meat products from antibiotic-free animals. The demand for organically produced poultry has risen 300% since 2000. McDonald’s Corporation has responded by announcing that its suppliers would be required to eliminate the use of all subtherapeutic antibiotics in production of food served in McDonald’s restaurants. As a result, several US poultry producers, including Tyson Foods, have also announced their intention to abandon the practice of using subtherapeutic antibiotics as growth promoters. The abandonment of this outdated practice is a beneficial marketing and public health decision, but at the same time, it deprives the producers of all the benefits that the use of subtherapeutic antibiotics had previously provided, including resistance to infectious bacteria.
Production without subtherapeutic antibiotics, or a suitable substitute, is management intensive, and less profitable. There is now an increasing demand for an effective, affordable, “all-natural” substitute that does not stimulate resistance, yet provides the same benefits afforded by the use of antibiotics. An effective replacement for subtherapeutic antibiotics and hormones would have to decrease mortality, decrease condemnations, improve feed efficiency, and improve poultry or livestock health, without increasing cost.
Global leaders "in the development, registration, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceutical products and technologies for food producing animals," like Alpharma, seem to have little concern about emerging global health issues, and fail to acknowledge the growing concern over the "development, prevalence, spread and persistence of antibiotic resistant" bacteria.
Ironically, the cost of agricultural antibiotics continues to rise as pharmaceutical companies attempt to hold on to profit margins and foster customer loyalty through an aggressive campaign of propaganda and paranoia. Regardless of one's degree of participation in organized religion, political persuasion, identification with activist groups such as PETA, or belief in "oneworld conspiracy theories", the increase of antibiotic-resistant bacteria-caused illnesses, such as "Mersa", continues to claim casualties. It is time for all of us to see the use of growth promoting subtherapeutic antibiotics in our food animals as the serious public health issue it truly is.
You can read the Alpharma newsletters referenced above at: http://www.alpharma.com/newahd/pages/getfile.aspx?id=66964072-36F8-4E96-B69B-9D7CF8F472D5
And at: http://antibiotictruths.com/FTR/FTR_Oct07.pdf
And at: http://antibiotictruths.com/FTR/FTR_Oct07.pdf
You can read the USDA "Problem Statement 1.1.5" (page 12) regarding antibiotic resistance at: http://www.ars.usda.gov/sp2UserFiles/Program/108/2006-2010ActionPlanFinal108.pdf
-zties
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