The Change Mariner

WHO Says No to Farm Antibiotics

Wired

Farmers worldwide should reduce the use of antibiotics in their livestock to help curb the growth of drug-resistant bacteria in humans, the World Health Organization reported.

High-profile scares over the transmission of resistant forms of bacteria have become increasingly frequent, particularly in Europe. Farmers use antibiotics not only to treat sick livestock but also to boost animal growth. Some of those growth-promoting drugs are essential to the treatment of serious, potentially life-threatening, bacterial diseases.

The WHO has said overuse of drugs for purposes other than treating animal disease is partly responsible for a rise in the number of resistant bacteria — such as salmonella — found in livestock. The agency fears such bacteria can be transmitted to humans who eat affected meat.

The WHO study found that after Denmark banned animal-feed antibiotics, the percentage of livestock with resistant bacteria fell from as high as 80 percent to as little as 5 percent. Cutting out antibiotics raised Danish farmers' costs by 1 percent — or around a dollar per pig.

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