One can almost admire the veterinary determination to continue using huge quantities of antibiotics in meat production.
Determined, and doubtless profitable, but not wise.
Superbugs will mean that we will all pay the price of their refusal to face facts, backed by the hitherto overwhelming influence of the drug-dealing lobby. However, reform is quite inevitable in the end.
In their efforts, in America, they also confirm an important point: the much touted distinction, between growth promotion and health protection, plus treatment, is largely a sham. The bugs don't know why they are being swamped with antibiotics, only that they are.
The ASAS make the case for those of us, in state veterinary-censored Britain, insisting on veterinary reform and tight external regulation of both private and public veterinarians.
"Some say..." makes light of the seniority of the human medical experts complaining in Britain and elsewhere. The apocalyptic warnings of the England's Chief Medical Officer, Professor Dame Sally Davies can hardly be discounted.
As always read the whole of the American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) board of directors statement, not just the quotes given below.
The full text is here
After 70 Years, Antibiotics Still Work!
Nov. 22, 2013 Source: American Society of Animal Science
Following is an official statement from the American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) board of directors authored by animal scientist R.L. Preston.
Yes, we can be thankful that antibiotics are still effective in humans and animals since they were discovered over 80 years ago. The availability of antibiotics to treat infectious diseases is a medical miracle that has radically improved the health and well-being of both humans and animals, including pets...
...Some say we are closer than most of us realize to the time when bacterial infections can no longer be treated with antibiotics because of antibiotic resistance ("superbugs")...
...Denmark banned the use of antibiotics in food animals in 1997, except by veterinary prescription. In the five years following the ban, the total use of antibiotics in food- producing animals decreased by only 30%, because there was a 41% increase in prescription use. By 2012, veterinary prescription use in pigs increased about 115% and total antibiotic use in pigs was 80% of what it was before the ban...
During the five-year period, there was increased mortality in baby pigs and antibiotic resistance in isolates from ill humans increased from 18% to 46%. This is a real-time result following a ban of health (growth) promoting antibiotics in food-producing animals...
