The hazard of using chloramphenicol in food animals.

To summarize, concern has developed over the extra-label use of chloramphenicol in food-producing animals because a type of blood dyscrasia that is usually fatal to a significant subgroup of the population with an apparent predisposed sensitivity to chloramphenicol has been associated with extremely low levels of exposure to the drug. In a monitoring program, using a method of analysis that is limited as to the type of residues it can detect, USDA has found 4 to 8 animals a year that were slaughtered for use as human food that contained residue levels of chloramphenicol that approach or exceed those concentrations associated in a causal relationship with aplastic anemia in man. Given the preponderance of evidence presented above, the FDA must consider--under its mandate to protect the human health by assuring safe and effective veterinary drugs--a course of action that will preclude the availability and the use of chloramphenicol in food animals.