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Veterinarian: Animal Antibiotic Use Overestimated

In a letter published August 25th in the Chicago Tribune, Iowa pork producer and swine veterinarian Craig Rowles sharply disputes the often-used estimate that 70 percent of all U.S. antibiotics are given to livestock for non-therapeutic purposes.

Rowles says the estimate, published eight years ago by the Union of Concerned Scientists, includes products that were licensed but never sold in this country. As examples, he cites oleandomycin and efrotomycin, said by UCS to be used in pigs at a rate of 66,000 pounds per year. Rowles says neither drug was ever marketed here.

"This estimate is junk science at its worst, and 8-years-old too," Rowles says in the letter. He adds that "the suggestion that modern livestock farms wantonly misuse antibiotics does a disservice to some very dedicated people."

Rowles is a member of the National Pork Producers Council. The letter as published in the Tribune can be read in its entirety at http://www.porkmag.com/directories.asp?pgID=675&ed_id=8084

Source:
Pork Magazine, August 25, 2009