Sales indicate falling use of antibiotics on farms

Sales of antibiotics for use in animals in the UK are at a four-year low, the Defra report states.

Antibiotic resistance is a growing threat to human health and health experts believe if no action is taken then it could cause ten million deaths per year and cost the global economy $100 trillion by 2050.

The Government announced plans to tackle the problem in September, including a commitment to dramatically reduce the use of antibiotics in animals.

According to the Defra report, overall sales by weight dropped by nine per cent from 2014-15.

Sales for use in food-producing animals dropped 10 per cent, from 62 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) to 56mg/kg, a fall which continues a ten-year downward trend and puts the UK on track to reach its 50mg/kg target by 2018, Defra said.

As well as the overall reduction, the report shows a drop in sales of the highest priority antibiotics that are critically important for humans. Sales of these medicines made up just over one per cent of all antibiotics sold for use in animals last year.

Defra’s Minister for rural affairs and biosecurity, Lord Gardiner, said: “Antibiotic resistance is the biggest threat to modern medicine and we must act now to help keep antibiotics effective for future generations. This report shows the hard work of our vets and farmers is already making a real impact.”

Within agriculture, the meat poultry industry has almost halved its use of antibiotics between 2012-15, while the UK pig industry has introduced an online system to record, benchmark and control antibiotic use.