TWN
Info Service on Health Issues (Jun18/10)
27 June 2018
Third World Network
NRDC report: antibiotic overuse in pig production contributing
to spread of antibiotic resistance
Dear
friends and colleagues,
A
recent report from the US Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC)
estimates that more than 27 percent of all medically important antibiotics
sold in the US are for pig production, while a roughly equivalent
amount (27.6%) is sold for use in human medicine.
According
to the NRDC report, the widespread antibiotic overuse in the pork
industry and livestock production is a key contributor to the spread
of antibiotic resistance in both animals and humans.
The
key findings in the report reveal:
- The
US pork industry accounts for 37 percent of all US livestock sales
of medically important antibiotics;
- The
pork industry feeds medically important antibiotics to entire herds
of animals even when no pigs are sick;
- Overuse
of antibiotics occurs with the growing consolidation of the US pork
industry dominated by larger, specialised farms and by fewer businesses,
which dictate production practices;
- US
pork producers use twice as much antibiotics per kilogram of animal
as do UK producers, and seven times the levels used in Denmark or
the Netherlands;
- Robust
information on the use of antibiotics in livestock production, including
in pigs, remains scarce in the US.
- The
irresponsible use of antibiotics on pig farms has created ripe conditions
for drug-resistant bacteria to multiply and spread from farms to
people’, states the report.
- Giving
an example, the report cites the rise of a livestock-associated
strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in
pig farm workers and their families in several countries.
In
the absence of federal action, the report hopes that consumer demand
for antibiotic-free pork will make an impact on the pork industry
as it has on the poultry industry in the US.
This
13-page NRDC report entitled Better Bacon: Why it’s high time the
US pork industry stopped pigging out on antibiotics can be downloaded
from the link given here: https://assets.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/better-bacon-pork-industry-antibiotics-ib.pdf?_ga=2.244159750.2074755176.1529906610-1042825980.1529906610
With best wishes,
Third World Network
