|
APUA
Ecology Program
Ecology
Progam Description
Mission
The
mission of the Ecology Program is to bring an ecological perspective
to the policy debate on antibiotic resistance in order to promote human,
animal, and environmental health.
Objectives
- Document
the cumulative health effects of antibiotic use in human and veterinary
medicine, agriculture, aquaculture, household products, etc.
- Inform
stakeholders and encourage communication and collaboration in formulating
effective public policy.
- Provide
unbiased and comprehensive information resources to the public in
order to raise awareness of antibiotic resistance and the threat it
poses to human and environmental health.
Recent
Projects
- Facts
about Antibiotics in Animals and their Impact on Resistance (FAAIR).The
purpose of FAAIR is to bring scientific evidence to the policy debate
surrounding the use of antibiotics in food animal production. The
FAAIR project published a comprehensive report in the journal Clinical
Infectious Diseases in Spring 2002.
- FAAIR
II. This project focuses on obtaining improved antibiotic usage
estimates in US food animal production to guide regulatory decision-making.
FAAIR II involves collaboration with an expert panel composed of representatives
from academia, food producer organizations, public interest groups,
veterinary professional associations, public health agencies, and
the pharmaceutical industry. Both FAAIR and FAAIR II were supported
by The Joyce Foundation.
- Swine
Health Demonstration Project. APUA is providing support to researchers
at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine on a CDC-funded
swine health demonstration project. The project examines microbiological
characteristics and health in swine herds raised without antibiotics.
APUA will also develop educational and outreach materials to inform
stakeholders and the public of the project’s results and significance.
- USDA-ARS
Regional Comparison of Antimicrobial Resistance in the Environment.
Ecology Program Staff are collaborating with USDA-ARS to provide water
samples and fecal samples from veterinary clinics in the Boston metropolitan
area for analysis of bacterial resistance profiles.
- Environmental
Impact of Antibiotics (EIA).
EIA launched a national pubic awareness campaign including the initial
development of the Ecology Web site and the publication of articles
about the ecology of antibiotic resistance in the scientific literature
and lay press. This project was supported by The Nathan Cummings Foundation.
back
to top |