This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
A study has found no serious effects after farmers in Denmarkended the use of antibiotics to increase growth in pigs andchickens. Many experts worry that too much use in food animals mayadd to the problem of antimicrobial resistance in humans. Bacteriadevelop resistance to drugs over time.
The World Health Organization last week released a report byexperts who studied the Danish example. In nineteen-ninety-nine,Denmark limited the use of drugs in food animals only to thetreatment of infections. Farmers had given antibiotics to increasegrowth mainly in pigs and chickens.
Since then, the W-H-O report says the experts found a big drop inthe levels of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in these animals. Theexperts also found little, if any, increase in production costs. Butthe report says more studies are needed to learn how much of aneffect all this will have on drug resistance in people. The reportnotes that cases of antimicrobial resistance in humans have beenrare in Denmark.
Makers of drugs used in animals say a bigger concern should bethe overuse of antibiotics by doctors to treat infections in people.
Antibiotics can be an effective way to treat dangerous kinds ofbacteria like E. coli and salmonella in animals. But farmers mayalso feed small amounts to healthy cattle, chickens and pigs. Theseamounts are smaller than farmers would use to treat diseases.
Low doses of the drugs cause farm animals to gain weight faster.Cattle and pigs develop fat more quickly. Farmers save money. Theyuse less food and produce more meat. They may also lose feweranimals to disease.
In two-thousand-one, the United States Agriculture Departmentreleased a report on the use of drugs for the purpose of growth. TheEconomic Research Service said ending this use would increaseproduction costs for farmers. And that would mean higher prices formeat.
But many scientists say they are concerned that drug-resistantbacteria may spread to humans and infect large numbers of people. Innineteen-ninety-nine the European Union banned the use of four kindsof drugs for growth purposes.
This past June, McDonald’s also reacted to the concerns. Thefast-food seller announced it would ask its meat suppliers to cutback their use of antibiotics except to treat disease.
This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by MarioRitter.