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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

New Drug “Cocktails” for Farm Animals Prompts Lawsuit

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Monday, November 10, 2014   

NASHUA, N.H. – Pharmaceuticals – they’re what's for dinner.

And three groups in the U.S. are suing the federal government over the drugs.

The Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS), United Farm Workers of America and the Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit in San Francisco over a new cocktail of growth enhancing drugs and antibiotics.

Hannah Connor, a Humane Society staff attorney, says the cocktail is fed to millions of pigs, turkeys and cows.

She says the three groups filed the lawsuit over what she says is the Federal Drug Administration’s failure to investigate the long-term effects of the drugs.

"We think that they need to take a really hard look and make sure that when approving these varieties of drugs that have huge impacts, not only to the environment, but also to animals and to workers and to human health, that they really need to do a meaningful review," she stresses.

According to the HSUS, the FDA has never prepared an Environmental Impact Statement or an Environmental Assessment on the combined effects of the drugs.

The lawsuit asks the court to set aside the FDA's approval of the drugs until the agency performs a review, which the groups say is required under federal law.

The FDA says it doesn't comment on pending litigation.

At the center of the lawsuit is the drug ractopamine, as well as combinations of the drug with antibiotics, growth hormones and steroids, many of which have been banned in other countries, including China and Russia.

Eli Lily & Company, a leading producer of ractopamine, says it's safe and effective, with no confirmed human health effects.

Conner says studies conducted in the U.S. regarding the drugs are troubling.

"What they actually showed was some real concern, especially when the drug is absorbed directly by a human," she says.

Connor adds that the overuse of antibiotics for animals can cause the drugs to become ineffective in humans.

She's also concerned about the vast amount of animal waste from large-scale farms that can leach into water and soil, affecting wildlife.



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