Antimicrobials Sold Or Distributed For Use In Food-Producing Animals
According to statistics from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), approximately 29 million pounds of antimicrobials were sold in the United States in 2009 for use in food animals. This amount includes all approved uses of all dosage forms.
The data showed that the largest classes of antimicrobials sold in the United States for use in food animals includes Tetracyclines at 10.15 million pounds and lonophores at 8.23 million pounds. Lonophores comprised 29% of the total pounds of antimicrobials sold for animal use in 2009. They are not used at all in human medicine.
The Union of Concerned Scientists claims that the amount of antimicrobials used in farm animals is about eight times greater than the volume doctors prescribe for human medical purposes each year. The FDA asserts that this is not a valid comparison, as the animal data represents volume sold, versus volume used.