Pork Producers Want ‘Clean’ Drug-Review Law
By Pork news staff
| Wednesday, July 09, 2008
The National Pork Producers Council wants Congress to reauthorize an animal-drug review law, to approve a new generic animal-drug review statute and to pass both measures without amendments that would make it more difficult to keep animals healthy.
The Animal Drug User Fee Act, first enacted in 2003, allows the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to collect fees from the animal-health industry for the review and approval of animal health products. The fees supplement the agency’s annual congressionally approved appropriations and have enabled FDA to dramatically reduce its review time for new animal drugs, bringing medications to the market more quickly while maintaining high standards for safety and effectiveness. The Animal Generic Drug User Fee Act would do the same for generic animal drugs.
Congressional debate about the ADUFA reauthorization has included the issue of antibiotic resistance and the possibility that antibiotics used in livestock are contributing to antibiotic resistance in people. Some lawmakers have indicated support for adding language to the reauthorization bill that would ban the use in livestock of certain antibiotics.
But the American Veterinary Medical Association recently testified that risk assessment is the proper basis for making policy decisions about antibiotic use in animal agriculture. Indeed, many quantitative risk assessments have been done on antibiotic products used to keep animals healthy, all showing extremely low risk levels to human health.
Since ADUFA was signed into law, four new swine health products have come on the market, helping producers fight the increasing challenges that swine respiratory diseases have created for the industry. Additionally, last year, veterinarians and pet owners received nine new products to help pets live longer, healthier lives.
“ADUFA ensures that animal-health companies are able to provide timely products to treat and control the new diseases that our animals will face,” says NPPC President Bryan Black, an Ohio pork producer. “It’s a critical tool needed by the pork industry and veterinarians to maintain animal health and to provide safe, wholesome and nutritious pork.
“NPPC will be very aggressive in lobbying Congress for a quick, clean reauthorization of this important law,” adds Black. “ADUFA is a top priority for the U.S. pork industry.”
Source: National Pork Producers Council
