Earlier this month, U.S. pediatricians warned that the overuse of antibiotics in animal feed is making it harder for doctors to treat infections in young children. It鈥檚 a real problem, agrees a Canadian microbiologist, but changes are coming.
Medical experts from several fields have been raising the alarm for some time about antibiotic resistance, noting that agricultural practices are contributing to the problem.
When healthy animals are routinely given antibiotics, it leads to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the animal, which are then spread to other animals, and eventually to humans.
That鈥檚 making the drugs that doctors routinely rely on ineffective in treating potentially-serious infections in children.
Dr. John Prescott, a professor emeritus at Guelph University鈥檚 pathobiology department, says farmers use antibiotics in their animals for three reasons:
- to treat bacterial infections
- to prevent infections
- and for the promotion of growth
鈥淭his has been a very long-standing practice in animal agricultural production,鈥� he told CTV鈥檚 Canada AM Friday from Guelph, Ont.
Dr. Prescott says Europe has already banned the use of antibiotics for growth promotion, and much of North America will soon follow suit.
鈥淕rowth promotion use in food animals in North America is going to come to an end by December, 2016,鈥� he said.
Health Canada has given food animal producers until that date to end the use of medically important antibiotics for growth promotion.
That will bring Canada in line with regulations coming into place in the U.S., where is requiring farmers to eliminate the use of antibiotics for 鈥渟ub-therapeutic use,鈥� such as growth promotion. As well, farmers wanting to give their animals antibiotics to treat or control specific disease will need a prescription from a veterinarian.
鈥淥ne of the issues has been that farmers can use antibiotics in feed without a veterinarian prescription. That鈥檚 going to be changing by December, 2016,鈥� Prescott said.
鈥淪o this is a good news story,鈥� he added. 鈥淧eople have been calling for these changes 鈥� the removal of growth promotional antibiotics 鈥� for a very long time. And so I think it鈥檚 actually an exciting development.鈥�
Part of the federal government鈥檚 in food animals will be a monitoring program to see how much antibiotics Canadian farmers use and how we compare to other countries.
Dr. Prescott says he expects that process to be eye-opening.
鈥淚 think farmers would say they don鈥檛 overuse antibiotics, but I think there is overuse, particularly in disease prevention in some species,鈥� he said.
Finally, Dr. Prescott notes it鈥檚 important to note there are no antibiotics in the meat we consume in Canada. What there can be, though, are antibiotic-resistant bacteria in that meat. But fully cooking the meat should kill those pathogens.
鈥淐ooking will kill all bacteria,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o that鈥檚 something everybody can do: make sure you cook your meat properly.鈥�
