The medical community has long warned against overusing
antibiotics in farm animals because of the potential threat to
human health. Excessive and unnecessary use of the drugs, which
are similar to what doctors prescribe for people's ear
infections, strep throats and other illnesses, can lead to
super-resistant strains of bacteria that can cause serious human
diseases that have no cure. To keep the drugs working
effectively, they should be used judiciously and sparingly.
That's why it's so troubling that the Food and Drug
Administration is expected to approve a powerful cattle
antibiotic to treat a common pneumonia-like illness, according
to a recent report in the Washington Post. Never mind that the
agency's own panel of advisers urged that the drug be rejected,
citing concerns that it could promote emergence of drug-
resistant bacteria and that the drug belongs to an class of
drugs needed as a last line of defense against serious human
infections. Or that the American Medical Association and several
other he