| FDA Ban's Cipro-like Antibiotic in Poultry |
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Keep Antibiotics Working Antibiotics in Agriculture: A Public Health Victory: After several years of pressure from the Keep Antibiotics Working (KAW) coalition-the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) made history by banning the use of the animal-antibiotic Baytril in poultry due to worries about the increase in antibiotic-resistant infections in people. This action marks the first time the FDA has withdrawn an agricultural antibiotic from the market because of concerns about antibiotic resistance affecting human health. Baytril is a fluoroquinolone antibiotic, much like the commonly used human antibiotic Cipro. Cipro is one of the most effective treatments against serious cases of food poisoning and other bacterial infections. Since Baytril's approval for use in poultry in 1996, strains of foodborne illness resistant to Cipro and similar drugs have increased dramatically. The FDA's decision to remove Baytril from use in poultry will take effect September 12, 2005. Bayer Corp. today ended its 5-year opposition to FDA's ban on use of Cipro-like antibiotics in poultry.
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