Mr. Wellington’s letter responded to a Jan. 1 editorial The Post published, which said antibiotic sales to the meat industry have dropped due to new regulations and consumer demand.
However, the U.S. still “vastly” overuses medically important antibiotics to produce meat, according to Mr. Wellington. Continued action on antibiotic resistance cannot rely on consumers alone; federal regulators must step up to address this issue, Mr. Wellington argued.
“The [FDA] should limit the use of medically important antibiotics to treat sick animals or to control a verified disease outbreak,” he wrote. “Life before antibiotics was much more dangerous. We can’t go back.”
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