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Cipro's sister drug, Baytril, is being wasted on chickens

Infected poultry are now being treated with Baytril, a drug very similar to the anthrax-fighting antibiotic Cipro. The FDA, health advocates, and an editorial in The New England Journal of Medicine have all urged Bayer, the producer, to withdraw the drug from the poultry industry. Bayer, veterinarians, and commercial poultry producers are in strong opposition. If Baytril is withdrawn, they argue, the United States will have to alter its poultry-raising practices.

That is exactly what needs to happen. It makes no sense to raise chickens or any other animals under conditions in which infection is routine, requiring the routine use of antibiotics.

Bayer officials say they need more proof of damage to humans before they will stop supplying Baytril to chicken producers.

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