WASHINGTON — Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) recently wrote a letter to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) addressing possible revisions to guidance of antibiotic use for animal agriculture.

Booker believes that policy changes would contribute to antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

“A primary driver of the spread of antibiotic resistance is the misuse of antibiotics in industrial animal agriculture,” Booker wrote in his letter. “Concentrated animal feeding operations create a breeding ground for AMR due to their crowded conditions and the overreliance on antibiotics to keep animals healthy in an unsanitary and disease-promoting environment.”

Booker provided questions in his letter asking the FDA to respond to his inquiry by Sept. 1, 2024.

“What is the FDA doing to measure its progress on combating antibiotic resistance?” Booker asked in his letter. “Has the FDA adopted any indicators of success such as a reduction in antibiotic use by livestock sectors and reductions in antibiotic resistance in food animal isolates?

The full letter from Booker can be found here.