Consumer Federation of America joined other members of the Keep Antibiotics Working Coalition in a letter questioning FDA’s reluctance to ask Congress for better tools to track animal antibiotic use and its impact on resistance. Every five years, FDA submits recommendations to Congress on reauthorization of the Animal Drug User Fee Act. By law, the agency must consult with consumer and patient stakeholder groups. The proposed recommendations that the agency issued earlier this year, however, do not incorporate consumer groups’ requests that FDA be allowed to use a portion of user fees to collect data on animal antibiotic use, or that Congress amend the law to streamline the process for requiring drug companies to make changes to existing labels that put public health at risk and fail to conform to FDA policy.
