The FDA should impose stronger regulations on the use of medically important antibiotics outside of healthcare to help prevent resistance, Matthew Wellington, antibiotics program director for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, wrote in a letter to the editor published by The Washington Post.
Mr. Wellington's letter responded to a Jan. 1 editorial The Post published, which said antibiotic sales to the meat industry have dropped due to new regulations and consumer demand.
However, the U.S. still "vastly" overuses medically important antibiotics to produce meat, according to Mr. Wellington. Continued action on antibiotic resistance cannot rely on consumers alone; federal regulators must step up to address this issue, Mr. Wellington argued.
"The [FDA] should limit the use of medically important antibiotics to treat sick animals or to control a verified disease outbreak," he wrote. "Life before antibiotics was much more dangerous. We can't go back."