[00:00.10]From VOA Learning English,
[00:02.59]this is the Agriculture Report.
[00:05.50]Regulators in the United States
[00:08.01]are asking companies that make antibiotic drugs
[00:11.52]to tell farmers to stop using
[00:14.72]some of the drugs on livestock.
[00:17.37]Antibiotics are medicines
[00:19.73]use to fight bacteria and infections.
[00:23.67]Large animal farms around the world
[00:26.63]often use small amount of antibiotics
[00:30.12]to help healthy animals grow faster with less feed.
[00:34.64]They put the antibiotics in the food and water
[00:38.43]they give to cows, chickens and pigs.
[00:41.86]Opponents of this use of antibiotic say
[00:45.29]it adds to worldwide resistance to such drugs.
[00:49.18]Public health experts say,
[00:51.51]using an antibiotic on an animal gives bacteria the chance
[00:56.44]to built double defense against the drug.
[00:59.80]This makes antibiotics less effective
[01:02.85]when they are used to fight diseases in humans.
[01:06.77]Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
[01:11.28]asked drug companies to voluntarily change the words
[01:15.73]on the containers of antibiotics so far use in farm animals.
[01:21.63]Michael Taylor is the agency's Deputy Commissioner.
[01:25.64]"With these changes, there will be fewer approved uses,
[01:28.68]and the remaining uses will be under tighter control
[01:31.34]to minimize the impact on resistance," said Taylor.
[01:33.91]The decision by the FDA to ask
[01:37.06]rather than order the drug companies to make the changes
[01:40.79]has angered some activists.
[01:43.32]But the FDA said, changes would be made more quickly
[01:48.24]if it ask the drug companies to voluntarily change
[01:52.65]how they use antibiotics.
[01:55.17]Dimitri Drekonja is a doctor
[01:57.79]with the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
[02:01.33]He supports the FDA's decision to ask for voluntary changes,
[02:07.42]but he is not sure the drug companies
[02:10.43]will do what the agency has asked.
[02:13.57]"If this voluntary effort is taken up
[02:17.15]by the entire industry and everybody goes along with it,
[02:20.07]then it will actually be a needed first
[02:21.58]and potentially last step.
[02:23.19]Will that happen? I have my doubts," Drekonja added.
[02:25.81]Some large drug companies have already agreed to make the changes.
[02:31.03]Liz Wagstrom is the Chief Veterinarian
[02:34.50]at the National Pork Producers Council.
[02:37.66]He says the pig farming industry
[02:40.88]is preparing for a change in the way it uses antibiotics,
[02:45.99]even it will cost some farmers money.
[02:49.26]"We may lose some efficiency.
[02:51.01]We may have some animals that may not grow quite as quickly
[02:54.19]or take more grain to reach their full weight, " said Wagstrom.
[02:57.44]She also says the changes may mean
[03:00.49]farmers will have more sick animals.
[03:03.12]Doctor Drekonja says it may be difficult to measure
[03:07.59]how the new policy affects drug resistances.
[03:11.41]"It would be great if there was sort-of like a dashboard
[03:14.03]and you could watch the needle drop
[03:15.95]in the amount of antibiotics used and then watch the next gauge,
[03:18.97]which is the national resistance and see what happens there.
[03:21.73]We don’t have two simple gauges like that," Drekonja says.
[03:24.67]He says there is a lack of good information
[03:28.03]on the amounts of antibiotics used on farms,
[03:31.61]as well as by doctors.
[03:33.59]Some bacteria have continued to be resistant to drugs for years
[03:38.91]even after they have been banned from animal use.
[03:42.92]But doctor say they have been taking more steps
[03:46.89]to limit their use of antibiotics with humans,
[03:50.46]and they believe farmers should do the same.
[03:54.33]And that's the Agriculture Report.
[03:57.64]I'm Bob Doughty.