The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s newly unveiled “voluntary plan with industry” to curb the use of antibiotics in livestock does too little, too late to address the public health crisis posed by antibiotic-resistant bacteria, critics charge.

In the U.S., 80 percent of all antibiotics are used on food animals in an effort to make then grow faster and resist disease. Yet food safety advocates and health professionals as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have warned that this has contributed to the rise in antibiotic-resistant ‘superbugs.’ “A post-antibiotic era means, in effect, an end to modern medicine as we know it,” the World Health Organization has warned.

To address this growing threat, the FDA announced that it “is working to address the use of ‘medically important’ antibiotics in food-producing animals for production uses” so that they will “only be used in food-producing animals to treat, prevent or control disease under the order of or by prescription from a licensed veterinarian.”

But as watchdog groups such as Environmental Working Group (EWG) and Food and Water Watch highlight, there are two main problems with the FDA plan: first, the fact that it is voluntary means livestock producers can simply ignore it; and second, livestock producers can say the antibiotics are being used for “disease prevention” instead of “growth promotion,” causing no change other than one of semantics.

Sarah Borron, a researcher with Food and Water Watch, explains the two:

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Explaining why it made the phase-out voluntary, the FDA states that it is “because it is the fastest, most efficient way to make these changes,” and Michael R. Taylor, FDA’s deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine, stated that “we have every reason to believe that animal pharmaceutical companies will support us in this effort.”

Natural Resources Defense Council health attorney Avinash Kar raises questions about this, writing, “The livestock industry accounts for 80 percent of [drug manufacturers’] antibiotic sales. Do we really think the pharmaceutical industry is going to voluntarily walk away from such a big chunk of its customer base? I don’t see that happening.”

“There’s no reason why voluntary recommendations will make a difference now, especially when FDA’s policy covers only some of the many uses of antibiotics on animals that are not sick. FDA has essentially followed a voluntary approach for more than 35 years, but use of these drugs to raise animals has increased,” Kar added in a statement.