Organic lobbyists ‘exploiting antibiotic fears’
farmers for the bacteria.
He suggested that the Soil Association, which counts the Prince of Wales among its patrons, was using the issue as a “Trojan horse” to help its members make more profit.
But the Soil Association last night defended its campaigning, accusing its critics of being “out of step” with scientific and popular opinion.
There is broad agreement that unrestricted use of antibiotics in farming has led to antibiotic resistance.
This is leading to the rise of new superbugs that could cause 10 million unnecessary deaths a year by 2050. Such fears have boosted support for organic farming and increased sales of organic rise of drug-resistant produce in the high street. Last year, the market grew by 4.5 per cent, to £1.95 billion.
But Dr Brown, an Oxford University clinical research fellow, said: “Campaign groups appear to be exploiting growing concerns over antibiotic resistance in an effort to promote other agendas, such as increasing sales of organic produce or forcing changes in farming systems unrelated to antibiotic use.”
He claimed the actions of the Soil Association and others “could set back efforts to tackle resistance and harm animal welfare”. He accused the group, part of the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics (ASOA), of “misrepresenting facts, figures and scientific findings”.
The Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture (Ruma) group, which represents commercial farmers, also accused campaigners of harming the agricultural industry at a delicate time, following June’s vote to leave the EU.
Ruma defends medicating animals with preventative antibiotics, as long as it is not done routinely and the animals are at high risk of infection.
Gwyn Jones, its chairman, said: “There’s a widespread belief in the industry that these groups are using this as another weapon to put pressure on commercial farming, which they don’t like very much,” he said.
Last week, a study by the environment department found farmers had cut antibiotic use by nearly 10 per cent in the year to 2015 and were “setting an excellent example” to the world.
In May, a government-commissioned report warned that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) had the potential to return medicine “to the dark ages”.
The Food Standards Agency said on Friday that half the strains of deadly
which is common in supermarket chicken, are now resistant to the most advanced antibiotics.
Tom Macmillan, of the Soil Association, said: “The Soil Association has been campaigning against routine use of antibiotics on farms for over 25 years.
“It is an enormous EU-wide problem and all farms can work to lower the risk that agriculture exacerbates the wider crisis of antibiotic agreement.”
He said recent progress by the UK livestock industry was welcome but would be undermined if preventative mass medication continued, and he added that organic farmers had been “ahead of the game” in addressing these challenges.
A spokesman for ASOA said: “To paint any opposition to the status quo as an attempt to push the organic agenda hugely undermines legitimate calls for ambitious action on farm antibiotic use.”