Washington, D.C. - October 18, 2018 - (The Ponder News) -- Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (D-CT, 3rd) released the following statement after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that a strain of antibiotic-resistant Salmonella has been found in contaminated raw chicken products, causing 92 people illnesses across 29 states, including Connecticut.
“Five years ago to the day, I wrote a letter with my former colleague, the late Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, to CDC and USDA regarding their mismanaged investigation and lack of action in response to an antibiotic-resistant strain of Salmonella that contaminated chicken products across the country. 634 were infected across 29 states. Now, five years later, CDC has informed the public of another outbreak of antibiotic-resistant Salmonella in chicken that has been going on since January. It has already affected 92 people, 21 of which have been hospitalized. That is completely unacceptable.”
“The federal government and the poultry industry need to take this problem seriously. Déjà vu is not an acceptable policy for dealing with food safety. We need to be proactive. People’s lives are on the line. That is why Congress needs to act on the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act, which would ban the use of medically important antibiotics in food animal production unless they needed to treat livestock illness. The overuse of antibiotics in the livestock sector only makes this problem worse, and it is long past time we deal with the problem head-on, instead of going through the same issues over and over again.”
Earlier this year, DeLauro assumed sponsorship of the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act, which Congresswoman Louise Slaughter championed during her time in Congress. DeLauro is the lead Democrat on the Appropriations Subcommittee responsible for funding the CDC and a senior Democrat on the Appropriations Subcommittees responsible for funding USDA and FDA.
