BILL NUMBER: SB 2043	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JUNE 24, 2002
	AMENDED IN SENATE  MAY 23, 2002
	AMENDED IN SENATE  MAY 1, 2002
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 1, 2002

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Bowen

                        FEBRUARY 22, 2002

   An act to add Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 111657) to Part
5 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to public
health.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 2043, as amended, Bowen.  Antibiotics:  antimicrobial-resistant
diseases:  study.
   Existing law, the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law, contains
various provisions regarding the packaging, labeling, advertising,
manufacture, and sale of drugs.  These provisions are administered by
the State Department of Health Services.
   This bill would require the Director of Health Services to conduct
a study to evaluate the extent to which the use of antimicrobial
drugs in agricultural animals may lead to the development of
antimicrobial-resistant diseases in humans.  This bill would require
the study to address the health risks of providing humans and animals
with the same classes of antimicrobial drugs and to explore the
potential impact of antibiotic resistance in humans on the state's
ability to protect its population from future acts of biological
terrorism.  The bill would require the director, on or before July 1,
2003, to submit the completed study to the Legislature, and to make
this study available to the public.  The bill would require the
department to fund the study from existing resources, including
specified federal funding.
   Vote:  majority.  Appropriation:  no.  Fiscal committee:  yes.
State-mandated local program:  no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 111657) is added
to Part 5 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:

      CHAPTER 6.5.  ANTIBIOTICS

   111657.  This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the
Preservation of Antibiotics for Human Treatment Act of 2002.
   111657.1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) Several antibiotics that are either used in or are related to
antibiotics used in humans to treat infectious diseases are also
routinely administered to agricultural animals, generally in their
feed or water, in order to promote the animal's growth or to prevent
disease.
   (b) Mounting scientific evidence shows that the use of antibiotics
in agricultural animals, including the use of antibiotics to promote
growth, can lead to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria
that can be transferred to humans, making it more difficult to treat
certain infections.
   (c) In 1997, the World Health Organization recommended that
antibiotics used to treat humans should not also be used to promote
animal growth, although these antibiotics could still be used to
treat ill animals.
   (d) In July 1998, the National Academy of Sciences, in a report
prepared at the request of the United States Department of
Agriculture and the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA),
concluded that "there is a link between the use of antibiotics in
food animals, the development of bacterial resistance to these drugs,
and human disease."
   (e) In December 1998, health ministers for countries of the
European Union (EU) voted to ban the four remaining human-use
antibiotics still in use to promote animal growth.  The ban on using
virginiamycin, tylosin, spiramycin, and bacitracin in animal feed
became effective for the 15 member states of the EU on July 1, 1999.
Prior to that action, individual European countries, including the
United Kingdom, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden, had banned the use in
animal feed of specific antibiotics.
   (f) An April 1999 study by the federal General Accounting Office
(GAO) concluded that resistant strains of three specific species of
microorganisms (salmonella, campylobacter, and E. coli) that cause
illness in humans are linked to the use of antibiotics in animals.
   (g) In 1999, the National Association of State Public Health
Veterinarians adopted a policy recommending the discontinuation of
antimicrobial drugs used to promote the growth of food animals if
they are also used in human medicine.
   (h) In October 2000, the FDA issued a notice announcing its
intention to withdraw approval for the use of fluoroquinolone
antibiotics in poultry, in light of the fact that increased
resistance to fluoroquinolones in certain bacteria followed approval
of those antibiotics for this use in the mid-1990's.  Previous
proceedings by the FDA to withdraw approval of animal drugs have
taken substantial amounts of time following initiation of formal
action by the FDA.  The procedure to withdraw approval took six years
in one instance and 20 years in another instance.
   (i) In June 2001, the American Medical Association adopted a
resolution opposing the nontherapeutic use of antimicrobial drugs
that are medically important in animal agriculture.  Organizations
that have taken a similar position include the American College of
Preventive Medicine, the American Public Health Association, and the
Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists.
   111657.2.  (a) In order to preserve the efficacy of antibiotics
for treating humans and maintain an effective arsenal of antibiotics
to fight against bioterrorist attacks, the director shall conduct a
study  in consultation with the Department of Food and
Agriculture,  to evaluate the extent to which the use of
antimicrobial drugs in agricultural animals may lead to the
development of antimicrobial-resistant diseases in humans.
   (b) The study shall address the potential increased health risks
posed to humans from providing humans and animals with the same
classes of antimicrobial drugs.  The study also shall explore the
potential impact of antibiotic resistance in humans on the state's
ability to protect its population from future acts of biological
terrorism.  
   (c) Existing studies conducted by the federal Food and Drug
Administration addressing the issue of antibiotic resistance in
humans and animals may be considered for the purposes of the study
required in subdivision (a).  
   (c)  
   (d)  On or before July 1, 2003, the director shall submit the
completed study to the Legislature, and shall make the study
available to the public.  
   (d)  
   (e)  The department shall fund this study from existing
resources, including, to the extent permitted by federal law, any
funding received pursuant to the Department of Defense and Emergency
Supplemental Appropriations for Recovery from and Response to
Terrorist Attacks on the United States Act, 2002 (Public Law
107-117).