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92_HR0894
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1 HOUSE RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, The availability of effective antibiotics over
3 the last 6 decades has transformed bacterial infections from
4 life-threatening scourges to easily treatable conditions; and
5 WHEREAS, The use and misuse of antibiotics has been shown
6 to promote the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria; and
7 WHEREAS, Infections caused by resistant bacteria are more
8 difficult or impossible to treat; resistance also increases
9 the rate at which such bacteria are transmitted to humans;
10 and
11 WHEREAS, The risk for contracting an antibiotic-resistant
12 infection is highest for children, the elderly, hospital
13 patients, transplant recipients, people undergoing
14 chemotherapy, HIV positive individuals, and others whose
15 immune systems may be depressed; and
16 WHEREAS, Antibiotic-resistant bacteria costs the United
17 States at least $4 billion to $5 billion annually, according
18 to a recent article published by the Institute of Medicine;
19 and
20 WHEREAS, The World Health Organization, the American
21 Public Health Association, the Institute of Medicine of the
22 National Academy of Sciences, the Centers for Disease Control
23 and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA),
24 and other medical and public health authorities acknowledge
25 that antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens constitute an
26 increasingly grave public health crisis; and
27 WHEREAS, According to the Union of Concerned Scientists
28 of Cambridge, Massachusetts, approximately 10 times more
29 antibiotics by volume are used in American agriculture than
30 are used for treating sick humans; an estimated 93%, which
31 equals 24.5 million pounds, of antibiotics used in
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1 agriculture each year are used not to treat sick animals but
2 rather are given to healthy beef cattle, swine, and poultry
3 without prescription or veterinary supervision for
4 non-therapeutic reasons, including growth promotion and
5 disease prevention; and
6 WHEREAS, The majority of antibiotics used in raising
7 livestock and poultry, by the same estimates, are identical
8 or nearly identical to the antibiotics relied on by health
9 care providers to treat sick people; the effectiveness of
10 antibiotics used to treat both sick humans and sick animals
11 is being compromised; and
12 WHEREAS, The American Medical Association opposes the use
13 of medically important antibiotics in agriculture at
14 non-therapeutic levels; any delay in reducing agricultural
15 antibiotic use in the United States will only heighten the
16 public health risk given that continued unnecessary use of
17 antibiotics will promote further development of
18 drug-resistant bacteria; and
19 WHEREAS, The European Union has already restricted the
20 use of many medically important antibiotics in agriculture
21 and has continued to raise food animals successfully and
22 cost-effectively; and
23 WHEREAS, This is a national health issue and it is
24 appropriate that government action limiting the unnecessary
25 use of antibiotics in agriculture should be undertaken at the
26 federal level to create a uniform policy to be applied to all
27 states; therefore, be it
28 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
29 NINETY-SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
30 we strongly urge the Food and Drug Administration to
31 immediately take steps to eliminate the use of medically
32 important antibiotics at non-therapeutic levels in animal
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1 agriculture and aquaculture and to limit all livestock and
2 poultry antibiotic use to those uses authorized by veterinary
3 prescription and under veterinary supervision; and be it
4 further
5 RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
6 presented to the Food and Drug Administration and the members
7 of the Illinois congressional delegation.