Reducing the use of antibiotics to improve the growth of farm animals is good for public health and does not necessarily harm the meat industry
Denise Grady New York Times; News and voila!
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Denmark has proven that the pork and chicken industries can thrive even without using antibiotics to improve the growth of the animals. This was announced last week by the World Health Organization. In the organization's report, it is said that other countries can also reduce the use of drugs.
The report reinforces the position of the World Health Organization, according to which the use of drugs in healthy animals should be limited. In many countries, including the United States, it is common practice to add antibiotics to the fodder of farm animals, even when the animals are not sick, so that they grow and gain weight quickly more. But this practice can encourage the development of drug-resistant bacteria, and these can be transferred to humans.
In June, the McDonald's chain announced that it would ask its meat suppliers to reduce or stop the use of certain types of antibiotics to encourage growth. In the US House of Representatives and Senate, bills were submitted for approval to gradually reduce the use of antibiotics in farm animals, when it comes to drugs that are also used to treat human diseases.
Due to the concern about bacteria that are resistant to drugs, Denmark decided in 1999 to ban the use of antibiotics to encourage growth. The ban resulted in a 54% decrease in the use of drugs. The World Health Organization's report, prepared by an international committee of experts in veterinary medicine and infectious diseases, said the ban "did not have a serious adverse effect." But it did have some effect, both negative and positive. On the negative side, stopping the regular use of drugs in pigs led to an increase in them In cases of diarrhea, which required medication, some animals even died from infections, resulting in an increase of slightly more than XNUMX percent in production costs Pork. Chicken production is not affected.
According to the report, the positive effect of the ban is that there has been a sharp decrease in the rate of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in farm animals. This means that the threat to public health is reduced. But the report noted that human health problems related to drug-resistant bacteria given to animals were already A rare phenomenon in Denmark, and their rate did not change following the ban.
The report states that other countries can also stop the use of antibiotics to encourage growth. They will have to meet the criteria for raising farm animals accepted in Denmark, which maintains high standards in the field of hygiene and operates sophisticated systems to monitor the use of antibiotics and the level of drug resistance.
Spokesmen for the pharmaceutical industry said the report would not persuade other countries to follow the Danish example. The industry has long argued that the main cause of human infections caused by drug-resistant bacteria is the overuse of antibiotics in humans, not animals. Dr. Ritz Red Cranwell, vice president of scientific affairs at the Animal Health Institute - an association of animal drug manufacturers - said the health organization's report "is not convincing that a great improvement in public health is expected."
Given the increased rate of disease in pigs, Cranwell said, "If I were a government watchdog, I would say, 'Should I make it harder for the livestock industry if there's no clear medical benefit on the other side?'" But Antibiotics Working Keep, a coalition of organizations Health, Consumers and other lobbies, issued a statement calling on the US to end the routine use of antibiotics in farm animal feed.
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