Farmyard drugs ‘make our meat a health risk’

Sophie Borland DOSING livestock with antibiotics is putting human health at risk, scientists will warn today.

They say farmers should rein in their use of the drugs because bacteria are becoming immune to treatment.

In a report published today, they also caution that within 30 years antibiotic resistant superbugs will claim more lives than cancer.

Last week scientists announced the first patient in Europe had contracted a form of salmonella that cannot be treated. Similar bugs have been uncovered in China and one theory is that they are spreading via infected poultry or red meat.

Lord O’Neill, the economist who is leading an official review on the threat of resistant superbugs, said it was vital to cook all meat thoroughly.

‘I don’t want to put a percentage on it but yes, there is a risk,’ he said. ‘My advice to consumers is to make sure they cook meat properly.

‘If you are going to choose to cook it as rare as possible, you have to be aware of where it’s coming from.’

He stressed however that the likelihood of catching an infection from meat was low.

Other routes of transmission come from the way meat is handled in factories and abattoirs or through drinking water contaminated by animal sewage.

Lord O’Neill added: ‘I find it staggering that in many countries most of the consumption of antibiotics is in animals, rather than humans. This creates a big resistance risk for everyone. We need to radically reduce global use of antibiotics and to do this we need world leaders to agree to an ambitious target to lower levels, along with restricting the use of antibiotics important to humans.’

He directly called for countries to introduce targets to cap the amount of antibiotics farmers can give animals.

But this would reduce the supply of healthy meat – as there would be more sick animals – forcing prices up.

The report’s authors said in

‘Radically reduce use’

other countries this had forced some farms to close when they became unprofitable.

Prices also rose sharply before returning to normal levels.

The study warns that if the threat is not tackled, within 30 years superbugs will claim more lives than the 160,000 toll lost annually to cancer in the UK.

Other experts have warned that – if antibiotics no longer work – patients may soon routinely die from minor grazes, caesarean sections and hip replacements.

Nigel Gibbens, Chief Veterinary Officer, said: ‘This provides a compelling case that to tackle the global threat posed by antibiotic resistance we must prevent unnecessary use in animal production and minimise the incidence of disease that would necessitate the use of antibiotics.

‘This will not only reduce the potential risk to humans but also the risk to animal health and welfare of the development of resistance in bugs that cause disease only in animals.’

A Government spokesman said: ‘If meat is handled and cooked properly, the risk of catching superbugs from it is very low.

‘The overuse of antibiotics in farming is a major issue worldwide, and we are working closely with countries across the world to monitor it so that we can take action.

‘We must all work together to preserve the antibiotics that we have if we are to save modern medicine as we know it.’

Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies has even warned the antibiotic crisis facing the world is worse than the threat of terrorism.