Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) are urging the president to include $15 million in his fiscal year 2016 budget request for the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS), which tracks antibiotic resistance in foodborne pathogens. The letter, which was sent Monday, stated that the increase would “significantly improve our public health system.”
NARMS is a collaboration between the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Agriculture that collects samples of bacteria from animals, meat and poultry products, and human cases of foodborne illness and analyzes them for trends in antibiotic resistance. But underfunding ($7.8 million in FY 2014) means it can only do so in 14 states. Increased funding would specifically allow FDA to increase the number of samples collected, increase the number of states in which sampling is conducted, and implement advanced molecular detection to improve analysis. “This will give the CDC, FDA, and USDA the information needed to implement policies to better protect the public from the threat of antibiotic resistance,” the senators wrote. They also expect that increasing NARMS’ capabilities will help with early outbreak detection. In praising the president’s plan for dealing with antibiotic resistance last week, Feinstein said that the administration “can’t address this challenge alone. Congress must provide adequate resources to implement these recommendations, and further action may be needed to ensure federal agencies have the authority to ensure antibiotics are used appropriately in all settings.”
