25.03.2012

A federal court judge has ordered the Food and Drug Administration to take action on its own 35-year-old rule that would stop farmers from mixing antibiotics into animal feed, a practice which is widely believed to have led to a surge in dangerous, drug-resistant bacteria.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Theodore Katz ordered the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin proceedings unless makers of the drugs can produce evidence that their use is safe. If drug manufacturers fail to show that using the antibiotics in livestock is safe, the FDA commissioner must issue a withdrawal order. But the judge noted that if the drugs are deemed safe, the FDA cannot withdraw them from use.