Massive use of antibiotics in farming poses a critical threat to global public health and should be reduced dramatically to an internationally-agreed target, according to a British government-commissioned review.
Agreeing and implementing a global target for agricultural antibiotic use won’t be easy, the review, led by former Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O’Neill, said, but is vital if life-saving medicines designed to fight bacterial infections are to be kept effective, both for animals and for people.
The review suggested that following examples of Denmark and the Netherlands could make a swift, significant difference.
Denmark has an average of less than 50mg of antibiotics used a year per kg of livestock, which O’Neill said “may be a good starting point for such a target”.
“Denmark has shown that a very productive farming industry can be sustained alongside relatively low levels of antibiotic use,” the review said.
International alarm about the superbug threat is rising after the discovery in China of a gene called mcr-1 that makes bacteria resistant to all known antibiotics.
