The writer is neither a member nor a supporter of the Soil
Association; however, all these points are right as far as they go.
They come from a longer media release celebrating the Soil Association's apparent success in getting the proposed new Foston Mega Pig Farm stopped by
the local council.
They fail to mention that “organic” pigs are now just as
likely to be a problem, as are rare breeds, and in many cases they understate
both the seriousness of the problem and its longevity.
Britain’s pigs have been ill for more than a decade and
illness has been spreading into the hospitals for years. The vets, in
particular, have been carrying it from farm to farm and from the farm into the
community.
We had also noted the Health Protection Agency underplaying the potential risks of Foston, and similar pig farms, by misquoting American research here
The genie of zoonotic superbugs is out of the bottle in Britain and probably will not be forced back in our lifetime. We will have to learn to live, if we, can without the huge benefits of antibiotics, not just for animals but for people too.
The full Soil Association media release may be read here
Key
points of this evidence include:
- pig farming accounts for
approximately 60% of all UK farm antibiotic use
- research shows that the
levels of disease and the use of antibiotics both increase as pig farms
get bigger
- larger herd size is linked
with higher levels of many diseases in pigs, including some that can cause
illness in people
- for certain bacteria, such
as salmonella and campylobacter, most of the antibiotic resistance in
human infections comes from farm-animal antibiotic use
- resistance to antibiotics
can transfer between both animals and humans and this occurs more
frequently, and with far greater ease, than was previously believed
- a number of very serious new
types of antibiotic resistance have developed in recent years and several
of these are increasing in farm animals
- C. difficile ‘superbug’
bacteria which has been found in hospitals is a growing problem in pigs
worldwide, and the latest research shows that at least one strain of the
pathogen is now present in British pigs
- there is growing evidence
that C. difficile may be spreading from pig farms to humans through the
environment
- there is concern about the
risk of Pig MRSA spreading to the UK; it is now well established that
people working with MRSA positive pigs, such as farmers, veterinarians, and
even their family members, are at risk of colonisation and infection -
there have also been a number of very serious cases and deaths
- there are real concerns that
unless antibiotics are used much more sparingly we will soon find
ourselves facing a range of serious diseases in humans and animals that
can no longer be treated effectively.
