Walmart, McDonalds and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are all hammering Congress to dole out more funding to fight superbugs.
In separate efforts, a coalition of food producers and the government agency recently called on House and Senate appropriators to boost the $120-130 million allocated for funding antibiotic resistance measures. Antibiotic resistance is a major public health issue that has officials worried that existing antibiotics won’t be enough to fight off deadly, resistant infections.
CDC Director Tom Frieden told the Washington Examiner that he hopes to get $264 million, the amount requested by President Obama in his fiscal 2016 budget, but didn’t say what other amount he would be satisfied with.
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“It’s not just about the money, it is primarily about lives,” Frieden said during an event Wednesday sponsored by Pew Charitable Trusts at the Capitol. “We estimate over a five-year period that investment can prevent more than 600,000 infections.”
The extra funding would go toward improving diagnostic testing for determining antibiotic-resistant infections. It also would help fund a phaseout of antibiotic use among livestock, which can help contribute to antibiotic-resistance in humans when the meat is consumed.
Antibiotics are commonly used to increase the size of livestock and make them better prepared to handle diseases.
Major food producers such as Tysons Foods and Perdue have committed to stopping the use of antibiotics in their chickens. Other major restaurants and chains such as Walmart, Chipotle, Chick-Fil-A, Chipotle and Panera have committed to buying meat only from suppliers that use antibiotics responsibly.
Pew led a group that included Tysons, Walmart, McDonald’s and the catering and cafeteria service Bon Appetit Management Co. to write a letter to congressional appropriators. The Infectious Diseases Society of America also signed the letter.
Since the budget deal that raised the debt limit also raised spending caps for federal agencies, Congress needs to pony up more funding, they say.
“Combatting this threat will require increased and sustained federal investments in biomedical research and public health infrastructure,” the letter said.
Congress needs to make an agreement on government spending before funding runs out Dec. 11.
