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Mary J. Gilchrist,¹ Christina Greko,² David B. Wallinga,³ George W. Beran,⁴ David G. Riley,⁵ and Peter S. Thorne⁵

¹University Hygienic Laboratory, Iowa City, Iowa, USA; ²National Veterinary Institute, Uppsala, Sweden; ³Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; ⁴Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA; ⁵College of Public Health, The University of Iowa , Iowa City, Iowa, USA

Abstract
The industrialization of livestock production and the widespread use of nontherapeutic antimicrobial growth promotants has intensified the risk for the emergence of new, more virulent, or more resistant microorganisms. These have reduced the effectiveness of several classes of antibiotics for treating infections in humans and livestock. Recent outbreaks of virulent strains of influenza have arisen from swine and poultry raised in close proximity. This working group, which was part of the Conference on Environmental Health Impacts of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations: Anticipating Hazards—Searching for Solutions, considered the state of the science around these issues and concurred with the World Health Organization call for a phasing-out of the use of antimicrobial growth promotants for livestock and fish production. We also agree that all therapeutic antimicrobial agents should be available only by prescription for human and veterinary use. Concern about the risk of an influenza pandemic leads us to recommend that regulations be promulgated to restrict the co-location of swine and poultry concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) on the same site and to set appropriate separation distances. Key words: antibiotic resistance, influenza, manure lagoon, poultry, swine, zoonotic disease. Environ Health Perspect 115:313–316 (2007) . doi:10.1289/ehp.8837 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 14 November 2006]

This article is part of the mini-monograph "Environmental Health Impacts of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations: Anticipating Hazards—Searching for Solutions."

Address correspondence to P.S. Thorne, College of Public Health, The University of Iowa, 100 Oakdale Campus, 176 IREH, Iowa City, IA 52242-5000 USA. Telephone: (319) 335-4216. Fax: (319) 335-4006. E-mail: peter-thorne@uiowa.edu

This workshop was supported by grant no. P30 ES05605-14S from the Environmental Health Sciences Research Center at The University of Iowa and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

The authors declare they have no competing financial interests.

Received 10 November 2005 ; accepted 13 November 2006.