Antibiotic Use on Farm Animals to Be Phased Out in U.S
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Use of antibiotics to fatten cattle, hogs and chickens for human consumption will be phased out by 2017, as U.S. regulators seek to curb a rise in more deadly forms of foodborne pathogens.
Farmers would no longer be able to purchase the medicines without a veterinarian’s approval under a plan announced yesterday by the Food and Drug Administration. Drugmakers will be asked to agree to increased controls over three months, then will have three years to change labels to remove production uses of antibiotics, including for weight gain and accelerated growth.