People take too many antibiotics. So, it turns out, do cows and chickens. More than 50 years ago penicillin was hailed as a miracle drug because it treated illnesses and infections that had killed large numbers of people. Now, however, these wonder drugs are so overused they’re on the verge of becoming ineffective.

People in search of a quick cure to that nagging cold are demanding antibiotics and doctors are often too quick to prescribe the drugs to treat viral illnesses on which they will have no effect. The Centers for Disease Control has called upon physicians to be more judicious in writing antibiotic prescriptions. Since regulating the doctor-patient relationship is impossible, federal policy-makers should focus their attention on a situation they can change – the routine feeding of antibiotics to healthy animals.

The nontherapeutic use of these drugs in livestock has increased 50 percent since 1985, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. The group estimates that more than 24 million pounds of antibiotics, many of them the same or similar to drugs used to treat humans, are fed to cows, pigs and poultry each year. Although these animals show no signs of disease, they are given the drugs so they will grow faster and remain disease-free in often cramped conditions. This can cause the animals to develop disease-resistant bacteria that can be passed to humans.

The CDC reported that in the United States nearly all strains of staphlococcus infections, a common food-borne illness, are resistant to penicillin and many are resistant to newer drugs as well. One strain of salmonella is resistant to five different antibiotics. In addition, antibiotics are passed on to humans through handling meat, eating undercooked meat and being exposed to antibiotic-laden air and water. The more humans – and the bugs they carry – are exposed to antibiotics the more likely they are to develop diseases that are resistant to these once life-saving drugs.

The CDC warns that “the world may seen be faced with previously treatable diseases that have again become untreatable” and it has called for a review of use of antibiotics in livestock. A review would be helpful, but when dealing with organisms that can reproduce in 20 minutes, corrective action, not further analysis of the problem, is needed.

Rather than wait for more information, the American Medical Association and other groups across the country – including the Maine Medical Association, the Maine Public Health Association, the Maine chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Maine People’s Alliance – are seeking to restrict the use of antibiotics in livestock. These groups have lined up behind a bill sponsored by Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy that would restrict the use of animal feed containing antibiotics that are deemed critical for fighting human illnesses. It is also endorsed by the state’s epidemiologist, public health veterinarian and the former director of the Bureau of Health

Since the latest version of the bill has yet to be written, it is too early to tell whether it deserves the backing of Maine’s senators. In the meantime, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration should immediately initiate a review of the common practice of adding antibiotics to animal feed, an examination supported by the Maine state veterinarian. If it finds a problem, it should quickly correct it. Previous FDA proceedings to withdraw approval of animal drugs have taken up to 20 years. This is a problem that can’t wait until pigs fly.