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FDA considers expanding drug tests for milk

The Food and Drug Administration is considering ramping up testing of milk to look for a wider scope of veterinary antibiotics.

Growing public concern about antibiotics in dairy products prompted the FDA to conduct a study of almost 2,000 milk samples from across the country looking for 31 different drugs. More than 99 percent of the samples were drug-free, but the remaining samples (less than 1 percent) had traces of two drugs that aren’t part of routine testing.

Current testing checks for a minimum of four out of the six beta-lactam drugs — the most common veterinary drugs used on dairy cows — that were found in the samples. The FDA is looking into testing for newer drugs that have been approved for dairy cows since testing standards were created in 1992.

“There’s a need to look at other drugs, besides beta-lactams, that are not being tested for,” said Stephen Beam, leader of the executive board of the National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments, to Reuters.

None of the six drugs detected in the study were approved for use in lactating dairy cows, according to the FDA. Giving dairy cows two of the drugs — ciprofloxacin and sulfamethazine — is illegal.

Milk from cows on antibiotics is supposed to be discarded, so the FDA has not determined what levels of residue from the detected drugs are safe for humans. The FDA is seeking public feedback by July 29 to decide how to proceed with new testing regimes.

—Mollie Putzig

Save the birds and the bees

Bees, bats, birds and butterflies are responsible for every third bite of U.S. grown food, and President Obama wants to keep them in business.

The problem is that honeybees are dying at an alarming rate. An annual survey of beekeepers conducted by the Bee Informed Partnership showed a loss of 42.1 percent of colonies between 2014 and 2015. Most concerning to many, however, was that honeybee deaths spiked last summer, outpacing winter deaths for the first time.

Honeybees alone contribute $15 billion to agricultural revenue annually, according to a May 19 White House report. The report outlines a strategy to protect pollinators based on a yearlong study of the serious decline in bees and butterflies.

“You can’t replace bees with a microrobot or an iPod or an app or anything,” said Sam Droege, U.S. Geological Survey wildlife biologist and bee expert, to National Geographic. “We are completely dependent on bugs to retain the human race.”

Obama has personal stake in the life of bees, with a White House beehive producing honey for his homebrewed beer.

The President’s Pollinator Health Task Force, created in June 2014, found that climate change, disease, shrinking habitat and misuse of pesticides are behind the pollinators’ decline.

To bring pollinators back from the brink, the strategy lists three goals: reduce winter honeybee deaths, increase the monarch butterfly population and restore 7 million acres of pollinator habitat.

The President’s 2016 budget requests $82 million for pollinators. The money would go in part to planting pollinator-friendly gardens around federal buildings and researching effects of pesticides.

However, some environmental organizations claim the White House plan misses the mark by not taking stronger action on pesticides.

“The Administration set ambitious goals to stem bee declines, but without more meaningful action to restrict neonicotinoids and other bee-harming pesticides, it’s hard to imagine how the Task Force will make good on its promises,” wrote Lex Horan, a spokesperson for Pesticide Action Network, in a press release for the Pesticide Action Network North America.

Colorado pollinators can look forward to part of the strategy calling for native seed mixes to be put in reserve for post-fire restoration. Bringing bees back to burned areas will help ecosystem and pollinator recovery alike.

—Mollie Putzig