July 7, 2014

UK's veterinarians and MPs urge change in antibiotic use

Veterinarians and MPs in the UK are calling on the government and pharmaceutical companies to develop new drugs for livestock to avoid the growing human resistance to antibiotics, the Guardian reported.

The call follows warnings from the British Prime Minister David Cameron and the UK's chief medical officer Dame Sally Evans, as well as the World Health Organisation.

However, farmers in the country are resisting the call for change, arguing that the ban on antibiotics will make it impossible for pig production in the UK. Meanwhile, wary MPs said that total veterinary use of antibiotics were on the rise, stating that tetracycline had increased nearly tenfold and that of penicillin nearly fivefold since 1969.

"Antibiotic use in pigs and poultry in the Nordic countries is three to five times lower than it is in the UK. These countries have much lower levels of resistance in food poisoning bacteria than that found in many EU countries," said MPs on Monday.

'We recommend that this is an additional focus of research in the action plan and that in the meantime, government takes action to ensure the use of antibiotics in farm animals is strictly required for therapeutic use," the committee said.