AVMA Responds to PEW Commission Report

August 19, 2009 — 

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has published a response to the PEW Commission on Industrial Farm Production regarding antimicrobial use in livestock production.

The PEW Commission report entitled Putting Meat on the Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America is being presented to legislators and regulators as an authoritative assessment of the dangers associated with antimicrobial use practices by producers and veterinarians associated with livestock production. Groups supporting passage of the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA) are using the inaccurate, biased and misleading report to influence members of Congress. Veterinary associations, including AVMA and AASV, do not support this legislation. AVMA encourages veterinarians to contact their congressional representatives and urge them to vote "NO" on PAMTA. You can take action by clicking the following link and entering your zip code: http://avmacan.avma.org/avma/issues/alert/?alertid=13873126

The Commission report contains several areas of concern according to the AVMA's analysis. The AVMA takes issue with the Commission's process for gaining technical expertise finding information in the technical reports to be biased and to have not incorporated the findings and suggestions of a significant number of participating academicians.

In addition, the association asserts that "many of the Commission's sub-points have significant shortfalls and lack in comprehensive idea development or in how the Commission would execute a new plan or program."

According to the AVMA response, "the Pew report contains significant flaws and major dalliances from both science and reality. These missteps lead to dangerous and under-informed recommendations about the nature of our food system - and shocking recommendations for interventions that are scarcely commensurate with risk. The report is, in many ways, a prolonged narrative designed to romanticize the small, independent farmer, while vilifying larger operations, based simply upon their size."

The AVMA stress the following points regarding the issue of antimicrobial use in livestock:

• Veterinarians are the only health professionals that routinely operate at the interface of human and animal health.
• Veterinarians are already limited in the tools that we have available to protect human and animal health.
• Less restrictive antibiotic bans in Denmark and the Netherlands have severely diminished animal health and welfare without significantly improving human health.
• The Pew Commission criticizes the AVMA for not being "consensus-oriented." However, the association's policies are developed based upon impartial, scientifically sound evidence, rather than the consensus of like-minded individuals.

The AVMA's full response is available online at the http://www.avma.org/advocacy/PEWresponse/PEW_report_response.pdf AVMA's website.

Source: AVMA-Congressional Advocacy Network (AVMA-CAN)