Fiscal Note
No appropriation required.
Title
Urging the United States Congress to pass the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA), H.R. 965, and the Preventing of Antibiotic Resistance Act (PARA), S. 1256 and supporting a statewide and national ban on nontherapeutic uses of antibiotics in livestock production.
Body
WHEREAS, eighty percent of the antibiotics sold in the United States are used in livestock production, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that most of those antibiotics are used irresponsibly; and
WHEREAS, low doses of antibiotics are routinely fed to livestock for growth promotion and disease prevention to compensate for crowded, unsanitary conditions, in a practice known as "nontherapeutic use"; and
WHEREAS, "nontherapeutic use" creates ideal conditions for the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria; and
WHEREAS, antibiotic resistant bacteria on livestock operations are known to spread to retail meat, farmers and farm workers, and rural environments; and
WHEREAS, antibiotic resistance in pathogens due to nontherapeutic use of antibiotics in livestock production has been a public health concern since the 1960s; and
WHEREAS, antibiotic resistant bacteria have been the cause of several food borne illness outbreaks, including a 2011 outbreak of antibiotic resistant Salmonella in ground turkey that sickened 136 people, hospitalized 37, and killed one and lead to the third largest meat recall in the USDA's records and a 2013 outbreak of antibiotic resistant Salmonella in chicken that sickened 416 people and hospitalized 162; and
WHEREAS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that at least two million Americans suffer from antibiotic resistant bacterial infections each year and twenty-three thousand Americans die from those infections; and
WHEREAS, the medical and social costs of antibiotic-resistance infections in just one hospital for one year have been estimated to be between $13 million and $18 million; and
WHEREAS, the federal government has limited nontherapeutic uses of two classes of antibiotics, but otherwise largely relied on voluntary guidance to attempt to reduce overuse of antibiotics in livestock production, despite regular acknowledgements that nontherapeutic use and the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria poses a significant public health threat; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Common Council of the City of Madison, Wisconsin, urges the United States Congress to pass the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA), H.R. 965 and the Preventing of Antibiotic Resistance Act (PARA), S. 1256 and supports a statewide and national ban on nontherapeutic uses of antibiotics in livestock production, and,
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the City Clerk is directed to transmit copies of this resolution to Madison's State of Wisconsin legislative delegation, U.S. Representative Mark Pocan and U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin and Ron Johnson.