Title
Supporting the Protection of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA) and the Prevention of Antibiotics Resistant Act (PARA).
Body
WHEREAS, eighty percent (80%) of the antibiotics sold in the United States are used in livestock production, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that most of these antiobiotics are not used responsibly; and
WHEREAS, low doses of antibiotics are routinely fed to livestock for growth promotion and disease prevention to compensate for crowded, unsanitary conditions, in a practice known as "non-therapeutic" use; and
WHEREAS, "non-therapeutic use" creates ideal conditions for the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria; and
WHEREAS, antibiotic resistance in pathogens due to non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in livestock production has been a public health concern since the 1960s; and
WHEREAS, antibiotic resistant bacteria have been the cause of several foodborne illness oubreaks, including a 2011 outbreak of antibiotic resistant Salmonella in ground turkey that sicked 136 people, hospitalized 37, and killled one (1), and led to the third largest meat recall in USDA's records; and
WHEREAS, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that at least two million Americans suffer from antibiotic bacterial infections each year and 23,000 Americans die from those infections; and
WHEREAS, the medical and social costs of antibiotic-resistant infections in just one hospital for one year have been estimated to be between $13 million and $18 million; and
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Saint Paul City Council supports a statewide and national ban on non-therapeutic uses of antibiotics in livestock production; AND
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Saint Paul City Council will send a letter to our State legislators, Congressional representatives, and U.S. Senators calling for a ban on the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in livestock agriculture and for them to co-sponsor the Protect...
Click here for full text