animal husbandry do without antibiotics? Aude Teillant,
researcher at Princeton's Environmental Institute, discusses
the costs and benefits of antimicrobial use in livestock. She is
co-author of the OECD just released first study on global
consumption of antibiotics in food producing industries.
Aude Teillant writes for AMR Control: An estimated 14,788
tons of antimicrobials were sold for use in animals (both
food-producing animals and companion animals for disease
treatment and sub-therapeutic use) in 2013 in the United
States, including 4,434 tons of ionophores, a class of
antimicrobials used only in veterinary medicine. (...) In
comparison, an estimated 3,290 tons of antimicrobials were
sold during 2011 for human use." Most antibiotics are not
for medical care for animals, but solely to make animals
fatter: antibiotic growth promoters, yet she writes, latest
scientific studies show that, in fact, these growth
promoters are no longer considered effective, while global
animal-food industries are expected to increase by 70% by
2030. What are law makers waiting for? In 2006 the EU
banned AGPs, the US FDA only "recommends it".
INTRODUCTION
10 AMR CONTROL 2015