Center for Science in the Public Interest Antibiotic Resistance Project. (Environews Forum).

Sixteen years after discovering penicillin, Alexander Fleming predicted in a 1945 New York Times interview that the misuse of antibiotics could lead to the evolution of drug-resistant bacteria. As early as the late 1940s, when antibiotics were available to the public without prescription, hospitals began reporting evidence of drug-resistant strains. Agricultural use of antibiotics surged forward in the United States when, in 1951, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved their use as feed additives for farm animals to control disease and promote growth. Antibiotics are also used to control crop diseases.

As the antibiotic market grows--by some estimates to over $24.5 billion by 2006--so do concerns over the evolution of drug-resistant bacteria. As part of its health and food safety advocacy efforts, the Washington, DC-based Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has developed a website, located at http://www.cspinet.org/ar/, highlighting the work of its Antibiotic Resistance Project. The project serves as a way to educate public and private institutions, as well as the general public, on why policies and practices should be changed to prevent further increases in antibiotic resistance.

Browsing through the site, consumers can find guidelines for using antibiotics responsibly through the Consumer Tips for Using Antibiotics link. Links to information on proposed antibiotic-related federal legislation and the CSPI's regulatory activities, such as their petitions to the FDA on banning the use of human antibiotics for livestock growth promotion, are available under the Legislative and Regulatory Update header. The homepage also includes a request for stories from people who have become sick from antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Still another link on the homepage takes visitors to the site of the Keep Antibiotics Working campaign, a project of the CSPI and several other environmental, agricultural, and advocacy groups.

The Antibiotics in Jeopardy page features an in-depth interview with project director Tamar Barlam that discusses in lay terms topics including the hows and whys of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and how food can spread such bacteria. These topics are further addressed in the 1998 CSPI report Protecting the Crown Jewels of Medicine. The report outlines the CSPI's proposals for government and health care provider actions that the group believes could reduce the spread of antibiotic resistance and lead to better overall management of antibiotics. The report also includes a section on the economic effects of antibiotic resistance and a listing of 10 common antibiotic-resistant bacteria, along with the diseases they cause and the drugs they are resistant to.