Materials Educate Patients to Make Wise Choices on Tests and Procedures

appropriate, she said. “Antibiotics should be the last tool in the toolbox, starting with better farm practices,” Rogers said. “But the FDA doesn’t regulate farm practices.” Taylorexplainedthattheagencychose to pursue a voluntary phase-out over an outright ban because the agency felt it would require less time and fewer resources to work with industry groups than to pursue the legal course necessary to ban such antibiotic use. He emphasized that producers and industry groups have expressed willingness to make changes quickly. “We’d rather get to [a reduction in antibiotic use] over the next 2 years rather than litigate over the next 2 decades,” he said. Additionally, Taylor said, the agency hopes tominimize thepotentialnegative effect of these changes on the industries involved and on animal health by workingwithproducers,veterinarians,andindustry representatives. In particular, he acknowledgedthatcertainproducerswho havemore limitedaccess toveterinarians and other resources may have a difficult timecomplyingwithsomeofthechanges. “We know that change will be more challengingforsmall-scaleandgeographically remote producers,” he said. “We won’t forget about these special needs.” Ultimately, the success of this effort may be measured in 2 ways: by monitoring antibiotic resistance levels through the CDC’s National Antibiotic Resistance Monitoring Program and by tracking sales of these antibiotics, which are expected to decrease as use of these drugs for animal growth promotion decreases, according to the FDA. “If these guidelines do not bring down antibiotic use and drug-resistant bacteria, then the FDA will have to take additional steps,” Rogers said in a statement.