November 19, 2019

 

UK campaigners fear Brexit could compromise restrictions of antibiotic use in farming

 

 

Campaigners in the United Kingdom have warned that the next UK government must clamp down on the overuse of antibiotics in farming to stave off increasing risks of resistance that are threatening human health.

 

Brexit threatens to open up loopholes in the UK's regulations that would mean diverging from strengthening EU standards on antibiotic use in farming, and the pressure from potential trade deal partners will be to lower standards.

 

Cóilín Nunan, scientific adviser at the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics, told The Guardian: "Any future government must implement a complete ban on preventive mass medication [of livestock] as a step towards sustainable and responsible farm antibiotic use. Future trade deals should only allow imports produced to UK antibiotic and animal-welfare standards and import tariffs should reflect the benefits of higher-welfare systems, such as grass-fed or organic."

 

He warned: "The Boris Johnson deal with the EU makes weaker commitments on maintaining regulatory parity with the EU than the previous May deal did. The government has made it clear it wants to be able to set its own regulatory standards."

 

Antibiotic use on farms in the UK is controlled in line with EU regulations, but those could be loosened in the event of Brexit. There have already been signs of divergence, according to the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics, as the government has to date not committed to a strengthening of the rules that will be enforced EU-wide in 2022.

 

Nunan added: "The government needs to do far more to encourage a shift towards better animal husbandry to improve animal health and welfare, so that there are fewer infections in the first place. Sweden, which has higher minimum animal-welfare standards, has the lowest level of farm antibiotic use in the European Union."

 

Problems include the very early weaning of piglets, and the very high stocking densities of poultry, which both lead to higher antibiotic use that could be lessened with higher welfare measures.

 

The call comes on the 50th anniversary of a landmark report on antibiotics, the Swann report, that found serious dangers with the overuse of the drugs. The rules are in danger of being watered down by Brexit.

 

Agriculture would form a key plank of any new trade deal, but major exporters such as the United States and many south American countries have less strict controls on the use of the drugs than apply in Europe.

 

The Swann report also found that the intensification of livestock farming had led to more disease problems and failed to find "any excuse in logic or theory" for the preventive dosing of herds or flocks with the drugs.

 

Nunan said: "Fifty years ago, the Swann committee gave in to pressure from vested interests and failed to recommend an end to preventive mass medication, even though it knew the practice was unjustifiable and the cause of a deadly outbreak of antibiotic-resistant salmonella. Half a century later, still no one has come forward with a valid reason for allowing this misuse of antibiotics to continue."

 

- The Guardian