Super Madres Campaign Sees Results

Following LULAC’s successful Don’t Stuff our Turkeys with Antibiotics Campaign which collected 1,600 petitions calling Congress to act on the dangerous use of antibiotics, the Food and Drug Administration released guidance on December 11, 2013 calling for animal pharmaceutical companies to remove “growth enhancement and feed efficiency” labels from medically important antibiotics.

As drug companies follow this guidance, and two major companies have already pledged to do so, medically important antibiotics will require veterinary oversight in order to be used by a farm animal producer, instead of being available over-the-counter. As more and more companies sign on, using these antibiotics to promote growth and mass-gain in animals would be illegal.

“With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimating that more than 23,000 people a year die from drug-resistant infections it is imperative that we are conservative in which drugs we use in food animal production and how often we use them.” said Executive Director Brent Wilkes.

Although this is a great first step, a true resolution to this concern will involve a much more standardized and universal approach across all sectors of the industry and LULAC and its partners will continue to push for actions that will stem the tide in the creation of superbugs and endanger Latino farmworkers and families.