February, 02 2015, 12:30pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Dev Gowda, Advocate, Illinois PIRG (Public Interest Research Group) (312) 544-4433 x 210; dev@illinoispirg.org
President's Budget a Starting Point to Save Antibiotics
Illinois PIRG Statement on President Obama Proposed Budget
CHICAGO
President Obama's budget proposes doubling the federal budget to combat antibiotic resistance. This is exciting, especially given that medical experts - from the World Health Organization to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - warn that antibiotics are rapidly losing their effectiveness, putting the health of millions at risk.
In addition to funding programs that will reduce the number of resistant infections that are contracted at hospitals, the budget increases funding for farmer education and research programs to reduce the use of antibiotics in agriculture. This increased funding will help tackle the overuse of antibiotics on animal farms, which scientists point to as a major reason for the spread of superbugs resistant to antibiotics.
This funding, however, should only be a starting point. In February, the Administration is due to issue a five-year plan to tackle the public health risk of antibiotic resistance. In order to fully confront the problem, the Administration should use this as an opportunity to issue a policy that requires farms to stop routinely administering these drugs to animals that are not sick. To date, our federal agencies have failed to issue such a requirement, asking only for voluntary action that will at best address only a small part of this overuse.
More than 10,000 medical professionals have signed a letter to President Obama asking for such action. It's time for the President to heed this call and ensure that antibiotics are protected for generations to come.
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While applauding the U.S. House of Representatives' bipartisan passage of a bill to ensure that "law enforcement and intelligence agencies can't do an end-run around the Constitution by buying information from data brokers" on Wednesday, privacy advocates highlighted that Congress is trying to extend and expand a long-abused government spying program.
The House voted 219-199 for Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act (FANFSA), which won support from 96 Democrats and 123 Republicans, including the lead sponsor, Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio). Named for the constitutional amendment that protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, H.R. 4639 would close what campaigners call the data broker loophole.
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Noting those decisions on the FISA reauthorization legislation, Ruddock stressed that "today's vote is a victory but follows a recent loss and ongoing threat as that Section 702 bill moves to the Senate this week too."
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Kia Hamadanchy, senior policy counsel at ACLU, similarly said Wednesday that "the bipartisan passage of this bill is a flashing warning sign to the government that if it wants our data, it must get a warrant."
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Since 2011, the U.N. Security Council has rejected the Palestinian Authority's request for full member status. On April 2, the Palestinian Observer Mission to the U.N. requested that the council once again take up consideration of its membership application. According to the first State Department cable, U.N. meetings since the beginning of April suggest that Algeria, China, Guyana, Mozambique, Russia, Slovenia, Sierra Leone, and Malta support granting Palestine full membership to the U.N. It also says that France, Japan, and Korea are undecided, while the United Kingdom will likely abstain from a vote.
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