from Iowa Farmer Today

CHICAGO — Chris Petersen has a simple solution to the concern over excessive use of antibiotics in food animals.

“I will be the first one to give a pig a shot if it needs it, but only if it needs it,” Petersen said at a symposium here Oct. 27. “But, I only do that if it’s sick, and nothing else.”

Petersen, who farms near Clear Lake and is president of the Iowa Farmers Union, was one of several hundred livestock industry stakeholders at a symposium sponsored by the National Institute for Animal Agriculture.

Petersen believes the move to large-scale livestock production has contributed to what many believe is over use of antibiotics in the livestock industry.

“I truly believe if we have more family farms and more diversified production, we would not have this problem,” he said.

“We need to use husbandry more than we use antibiotics.”

Many groups and consumers are concerned excessive use of antibiotics in food animals could contribute to antibiotic resistance in humans.

Scott Hurd, a veterinarian at Iowa State University and former deputy undersecretary for food safety with the USDA, said it is important to differentiate concern with risk.

“Concern is not equivalent to risk,” he said. “Antimicrobial-resistant bacteria are found in many places.”

Hurd said the debate is really based on values.

Several factors come into play, he said, including the acceptance of modern farming, the level of suffering of animals, veterinarian oversight and what is acceptable risk.

He said there is concern with resistant bacteria, given the fact they are present in the environment.

“Antimicrobial resistant bacteria are a potential hazard, but hazard does not equal risk,” Hurd said. “Risk comes when you take the hazard and multiply it by the dose, and that is when you have risk. ”

Hurd said a causal pathway must be present to create risk. If any item is removed from that pathway, such as pathogens in meat, then there is no risk.

He said the risk to the public may be higher if animals are unhealthy.

“A healthy animal makes safe food,” Hurt said. “If there is a decrease in animal health, there will be public consequences.”

Before determining appropriate antibiotic use, several factors must be considered, said Mike Apley, a veterinarian at Kansas State University.

Those factors include:

Apley said limiting the antibiotics available to the livestock industry will negatively affect animal health.

“This isn’t just about public perception,” he said. “It’s about veterinarians being able to fight food-animal disease.”