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House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted:	March 13, 2013 03:13 PM
From:	Representative Michael H. O'Brien
To:	All House members
Subject:	Co-Sponsorship-Reintroduction of Safe Food, Safe Families Act

In the near future I plan to introduce legislation that would protect the safety and effectiveness of vital antibiotic medicines. These drugs are the clown jewels of modern medicine and critical to the effective treatment of bacterial infections. Unfortunately, physicians report that bacterial infections are becoming increasingly resistant to treatment with antibiotics. The U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) has declared antibiotic resistance to be one of its top concerns. Antibiotic resistance especially threatens young children, seniors and people with compromised immune systems such as cancer, transplant and HIV patients. There are a number of factors behind the rise of antibiotic resistance, but researchers increasingly point to the routine feeding of low levels of antibiotics to healthy livestock and poultry, often at industrial agricultural facilities, as a culprit. These animals are fed antibiotics to enhance their growth and compensate for crowded conditions. Many of these same antibiotics are used to treat human disease. An estimated 60 to 70 percent of all antibiotics used in the United States are given to healthy animals. The Safe Food, Sale Families Act would take important steps to limit the use of antibiotics in healthy farm animals if those same drugs are also used to treat infectious diseases in humans. The Act specifically bans the use of penicillin, tetracycline and other classes of antibiotics in healthy farm animals, and gives the Secretary of Health the authority of prohibit the non-therapeutic use of other antibiotics. Sick animals could still receive treatment with antibiotics. This legislation is very similar to my House Bill 1750 from last session. In 2010, Dr. Ellen Silbergeld from Johns Flopkins University provided valuable testimony in support of my legislation to the House Democratic Policy Committee. Researchers now believe that approximately 80 percent of antibiotic-resistant MRSA infections that are acquired in hospitals are brought into the hospital from the community. Dr. Silbergeld collaborated with researchers at Penn State University's Milton S. Hershey Medical Center on a study of risk factors of MRSA at the hospital. They concluded that the Hershey Medical Center is no longer the main source of MRSA at the hospital, and that livestock-associated strains of MRSA were among the strains of MRSA being brought into the hospital from the community. Nationally over 375 health, consumer, environmental, sustainable agriculture and other public interest organizations have called for an end to the routine use of medically important antibiotics as feed additives. These include the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Nurses Association, American Academy of Family Physicians, The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, American Public Health Association, National Association of County and City Health Officials, and the American College of Preventive Medicine. The European Union has already banned this practice. Additional information on this topic may be found at www.keepantibioticsworking.orq. Not only am I persuaded by the medical and public health research behind this legislation, but my own long professional experience in the meat industry also reinforces its value for consumers. Previous Co-sponsors of House Bill 1750: KULA, SWANGER, DALEY, CALTAGIRONE, CARROLL, COHEN, DeLUCA, GOODMAN, HARKINS, KOTIK, MURT, READSHAW, TAYLOR, WAGNER AND YOUNGBLOOD.

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Document #1

Description:	In addition, I will be reintroducing House Bill 28 of the 2009-10 Session,calling for the proper disposal of Pharmaceutical Dugs.  The proposed Bill would require retailers of Pharmaceutical drugs to provide for the safe deposit and disposal of unised or unwanted drugs by having in place a system for the acceptance and collection of Pharmaceutical drugs for proper disposal.

Document #2

Description:

I will also be reintroducing House Bill 33 of the 2009-10 Session.known as the Pharmaceutical Drug Disposal Act. In 2002, United States Geological Survey conducted a study sampling 139 streams across 30 states and found that 80% had measurable concentrations of prescription and nonprescription drugs, steroids and reproductive hormones.  Exposure to even low levels of pharmaceuticals has been shown to have negative effects on fish and other aquatic species and may have negative effects on human health. Previous co-sponsors of this legislation: Mundy, Donatucci, Harkins, Sturla, Hennessey, Gibbons