White House opens 'superbug' summit

The White House opened its first summit Tuesday to fight antibiotic resistance, and President Obama kicked off the day-long, mostly-closed-door meeting by directing federal departments and agencies to begin a process to buy meat and poultry raised with "responsible antibiotic use." In an announcement the White House posted Tuesday, it said that the General Services Administration (GSA) will be looking for vendors to offer antibiotic-free meat and poultry as an option in government cafeterias that it manages. The administration set 2020 as the deadline for each agency to create "a preference" for awarding such contracts, to the extent that they're available and cost-effective.