Drug misuse threat to all animal health

Published on 07/07/2012 00:00

The indiscriminate or overuse of drugs in animal health may lead to stricter controls being placed on their use in the future and Scottish livestock farmers should adopt more appropriate disease prevention schemes to avoid this happening.

That was the big message from a two-day conference organised by NFU Scotland in the Moredun Research Institute this week.

The threat is the forthcoming review of the European Union Veterinary Medicines Directive and the rising concerns on the link between drug resistance in animals and human health problems.

Professor Seamus Fanning from University College Dublin said there were now 25,000 human deaths annually in the EU that are put down to complications with drug resistance but just how many or how few of those fatalities were linked to drug resistance in livestock was not known.

Some countries have moved on to the front foot on this potential problem, with the Netherlands imposing reductions in the use of antibiotics on their farmers.

In the past three years, they have reduced the use of these medicines by around about 20 per cent and they have now set a higher target of a 50 per cent reduction by the end of next year.

However, doubts were cast on this approach to a problem where so little is definitively known. John Fitzgerald, of the Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture group, also queried whether the reduction of some antibiotics was the right answer.

Europe was, he said, already carrying out an impact assessment on any change on controls of antibiotics but no details were known. The important factor as far as he was concerned was to avoid the introduction of “draconian measures” which would not solve the problem. Already he was fearful of some people taking a very precautionary approach and that might be inappropriate for animal welfare.

Ian Gill, from the Thrums Veterinary Group in Angus, described the battles he has had with farmers preferring to blanket drench their whole herd or flock rather than identifying the specific problem and only treating those affected.

In working with organic farmers, he spoke of those who will not countenance any medical treatment, resulting in an animal welfare disaster, compared with those who diagnosed specific problems and treated accordingly.

Professor Julie Fitzpatrick, director of the Moredun, stressed the increasing problem of drug resistance and it would be better for Scotland to deal with it pro-actively rather than have it foisted upon the industry.

“We need to use drugs appropriately and to maintain their efficacy while avoiding risk to the human population,” she said. “We also need to develop different management approaches and new products, including vaccines and diagnostics to ensure global food security.”