010538 Growth Hormones Lowering Farm Prices

Washington - Hog farmers lose money by feeding growth-promoting antibiotics to pigs, because the extra production holds down pork prices, a government study says.

In 1999, the additional production that resulted from the drugs cut the price of hogs from $34.80 to $34.02 per hundred pounds, according to the study by the Agriculture Department's Economic Research Service. The producers who use the antibiotics collectively lost $45.5 million because of the cost of the drugs and the lower hog prices, the study said.

“Each producer is able to improve his or her net returns by feeding antimicrobial drugs,” the study said. “However, when all producers act in concert, feeding antimicrobial drugs, the collective result is to increase hog supplies; the increased supplies decrease hog prices.”

Public health officials are concerned that overuse of antibiotics in livestock is leading to drug resistance in humans, making it harder for doctors to treat bacterial infections. Some consumer advocates have urged a ban on using antibiotics as feed supplements if they have human uses.

Hog producers use antibiotics for disease prevention, with growth promotion only being a side benefit, said Al Tank, chief executive officer of the National Pork Producers Council. Use of the drugs is declining because of improvements in production practices that make infections less likely, he said.

“We see very different production systems than are being reflected in this study,” Tank said Tuesday. Farmers “are very knowledgeable about making sure that they do not overuse these products,” he added.

There is no solid data on antibiotic use in U.S. farming.

The Animal Health Institute, which represents drug manufacturers, estimates that 20.5 million pounds of antibiotics were given to animals in 1999 and says that most of that use was for therapeutic purposes, not growth promotion.

But the Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that 24.6 million pounds of antibiotics, about 70% of total U.S. antibiotic production, are fed to chickens, pigs and cows for nontherapeutic purposes.

The USDA study assumed that one-fourth of U.S. hog production was affected by antibiotic feed supplements and said that estimate was conservative.

The drugs have varying effects on livestock. Weight gains in dairy calves can be increased as much as 60%. Hogs can gain 10% more weight; beef cattle, about 6%, the study said.

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