Public Health Advocates, Medical Professionals Call for End of Practice Linked to Rise in Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria

WHAT:                                

The Illinois Senate Agriculture and Public Health Committees are scheduled to hold a subject matter hearing on SB3429 (Biss), legislation that would ban the routine use of antibiotics in animal agriculture. Every year millions of Americans get sick, and at least 23,000 die from antibiotic-resistant infections. Drug-resistant infections are expected to kill more people worldwide in 2050 than cancer does today.

Approximately 70% of antibiotics important to human health sold in the U.S. are sold for livestock and poultry production. They are routinely given to food animals not to treat disease, but rather as a preventative measure to compensate for the unsanitary conditions of industrial agriculture. Other nations have demonstrated it is possible to end the routine preventative use of antibiotics in food production, and Maryland and California have passed laws similar to SB3429.

WHEN: Wednesday, November 28, 2018 | 9:00 a.m. CT

WHERE: Illinois State Capitol, Room 212 | Springfield, IL

WHO:

* State Senator Daniel Biss

* Sameer J. Patel, MD MPH, Medical Director, Antimicrobial Stewardship Program, Attending Physician, Division of Infectious Diseases, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago

* Matthew J. Ferreira, DVM, MPH

* Karen Hudson, Illinois Citizens for Clean Air & Water (ICCAW) | Socially Responsible Agricultural Project (SRAP)

* Abe Scarr, Illinois PIRG

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Contacts:

Karen Hudson, ICCAW/SRAP | 309-208-8846, karenh@sraproject.org

Abe Scarr, Illinois PIRG | 312-983-2789 abe@illinoispirg.org