No Dangerous Drug Residues Found in FDA Tests of L.A. Milk

Tests on milk samples from Los Angeles and 13 other cities have shown no residues of animal drugs that could pose a danger to humans, the Food and Drug Administration announced Monday.

The results were released on the eve of congressional hearings that are expected to be critical of the FDA’s testing methods.

The agency said that, in conducting its tests, it first used a method known as Charm II that only detects “classes” of drugs. This round proved “positive” for 51% of the samples examined, the agency said.

Confirmatory testing, however, showed no presence of any potentially dangerous drugs, and indicated that the first series of tests were likely “false positives,” the agency said.

The confirmatory tests showed no evidence of sulfamethazine, a drug banned for use in dairy animals that is linked to cancer. Neither was there evidence of chloramphenicol, an antibiotic prohibited from use in all food-producing animals. The drug can cause aplastic anemia, a fatal blood disease, the FDA said. Further, the tests showed no evidence of penicillin, which can cause allergic reactions at certain levels, the FDA said.

“Since one error with one milk cow can cause a detectable residue of sulfamethazine in the pooled milk of 70,000 cows, our study indicates that the American dairy farmer is using animal drugs carefully and conscientiously, and that the milk supply does not contain unsafe drug residues,” said Dr. Gerald Guest, director of the FDA’s center for veterinary medicine.

The agency said its tests were based on “the most current technology,” but Rep. Ted Weiss (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Government Operations subcommittee on human resources and intergovernment relations, said he had “serious concerns” about the way the confirmatory tests were conducted.

Weiss, whose subcommittee is scheduled to hold a hearing on the subject today, said a preliminary investigation by the panel “suggests that the government views the milk contamination issue largely as a problem with public relations, rather than with public health.”

At the hearing, Weiss is expected to release a copy of a Jan. 6, 1990, memorandum from George A. Mitchell, head of the FDA’s veterinary drugs surveillance and enforcement program, to Guest. It reads, in part: “The Health and Human Services (Department) goals are to end media interest in drug-residue-tainted milk as soon as possible and avoid criticism of HHS and any other government agency.”

The FDA is part of the Department of Health and Human Services.