RESEARCH ▶▶▶
US/UK antibiotic use in poultry examined
Antibiotic use in turkeys in the United States is about nine times as high as use in UK birds, while US chickens are given twice as much antibiotics as in the UK. Future EU legislation, banning all routine farm antibiotic use, including all preventative treatments, could negatively affect trade.
BY TONY MCDOUGAL T
he figures released by the pressure group Save our Antibiotics, come at a time when the UK’s decision to leave the European Union is likely to lead to sig- nificant increases in imports from nations such as
the US. Once the UK leaves the European Customs Union the government is planning large cuts to tariffs on the import of meat from countries like the US that it does not yet have a free trade deal with on agricultural goods making many more imports more economic. Tariffs on poultry are to be cut by 40 percent. There is also concern that the UK government may choose to lift the current EU bans on chlorine-washed chicken meat.
Threat to standards The report entitled ‘Farm antibiotic use in the United States: a threat to UK standards?’ says that British farm antibiotic use has been cut by 50 percent between 2014 and 2018 due to voluntary action by farmers with the poultry sector ending preventative antibiotic use. The reductions in UK farm antibi- otic use already appear to be contributing to reductions in antibiotic resistance in certain bacteria from British pigs and poultry, which is good news for human health. Citing figures from the British Poultry Council which covers 90 percent of the UK poultrymeat industry, the report says antibiotic use in chickens is now at around 12mg of active in- gredient of antibiotic/kg per Population Correction Unit com- pared with 47mg/kg in the US. US figures show antibiotic use at 25mg/kg in chickens and 426mg/kg in turkeys. This is in spite of the decision by the US chicken industry to follow con- sumer demands and move to ‘Antibiotic Free’ chicken. The report adds that differences in antibiotic use between the
EU and the US could continue to grow in coming years due to the different approaches that are being taken to the routine use of antibiotics and their excessive preventative use. Colin Nunan, Save our Antibiotics spokesman, says “US farmers continue to massively overuse antibiotics despite increasing warnings about the threat this poses to human health. British consumers should be concerned if a UK-US trade deal results in increasing imports of US meat and dairy produced in this way, as we know that antibiotic-resistant bacteria can pass to humans through the food chain.” “The US is clear that it wants to agree a trade deal with the UK based on minimum international animal-welfare and antibi- otic standards. But if the UK government accepts this ap- proach it risks reversing the progress that British farmers have made in reducing their antibiotic use. British farmers would have to compete with much cheaper production of meat and dairy from animals raised in very intensive conditions with far higher levels of antibiotic use.”
Ban routine use New EU legislation that comes into force on 28 January 2022 will ban all routine farm antibiotic use, including all preventa- tive treatments of groups of animals. In contrast, the US strongly opposes attempts to end preventative group treat- ments. In 2017 the World Health Organization (WHO) issued new guidelines on farm antibiotic use which recommended that the use of antibiotics for group prevention be ended. But the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) condemned the guidelines saying they were “not supported by sound science”. The US’s chief agricultural negotiator, Gregg Doud, has also strongly attacked the new EU legislation, saying the rules were essentially a ban on using antibiotics and were a “thinly veiled reason to create a trade barrier”. The Animal Health In- stitute (AHI), the US trade body representing pharmaceutical companies that produce veterinary medicines, has also strongly opposed the EU legislation and indicated that if the UK adopts it, the measure could affect US/UK trade negotia- tions. The UK government says it plans to implement most of the EU measures on farm antibiotic use but has repeatedly failed to say whether it will ban preventative group treat- ments, saying it will consult with stakeholders, according to the report.
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