UK Government must adopt high regulatory standards for farm antibiotics when the UK leaves the EU

The Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics is calling on the Government to ensure that its Repeal Bill, published today, fully converts EU legislation controlling farm antibiotic use into UK law. Any substantive changes to policies and standards should be made by primary legislation only, requiring a full and proper role for scientific and parliamentary scrutiny. […]
New test to detect antibiotic resistance in dairy cows

A new Bayer initiative that involves the testing of bulk milk supply for antibiotic resistance will allow farmers to more effectively treat mastitis in New Zealand. Known as Dairy Antibiogram, the test will allow veterinarians to determine if antibiotic resistance to a mastitis treatment is present on a farm. If resistant bacteria are present, then […]
Senior medics call on government to immediately ban the routine use of antibiotics in UK farming
In an unprecedented move, fifteen senior medics have written to the UK government calling for urgent action to tackle the routine misuse of antibiotics in UK farming. Signatories to the letter, which was published today in The Telegraph to coincide with World Antibiotic Awareness Week, include the President of the Royal Society of Medicine – […]
Vets welcome global joint working to defeat resistant superbugs

The global Review on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), commissioned by the UK government and chaired by Lord O’Neill, has published (19 May) its final report calling for incentives to develop antibiotics, improved diagnostics and vaccines, and country-specific targets for the reduction of antimicrobial use in livestock. The British Veterinary Association (BVA) has welcomed Lord O’Neill’s final […]
Anti antibiotics: Addressing routine overuse in farming

The Shadow Secretaries of State for Defra and Health, Kerry McCarthy MP and Heidi Alexander MP, have written an open letter to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Defra Secretary Liz Truss, asking them to respond positively to proposals for reducing the routine, overuse of antibiotics in farming. The letter comes amid growing concern that current […]
RUMA welcomes Panorama’s programme on antibiotic resistance

The Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture Alliance (RUMA) welcomes the excellent Panorama programme on antibiotic resistance (Antibiotics Apocalypse broadcast on BBC1, 18 May 2015). The programme painted a clear picture of the use of antibiotics in human medicine and the potentially serious impact of antibiotic resistance on treating human bacterial infections. It highlighted the […]
Replace, Reduce, Refine – A way forward for use of antibiotics in agriculture

A framework for replacement, reduction and refinement needs to be established for the responsible use of antimicrobials along the food supply chain. This is one of the main findings put forward by a top-level roundtable, Antimicrobials – Who Needs Them, chaired by the sustainable farming research and development business, the Food Animal Initiative, and pharmaceutical […]
BVA concern at CMO call for sick animals to be slaughtered not treated

The British Veterinary Association is calling for a clarification of remarks made by the Chief Medical Officer in which she called for sick animals to be slaughtered rather than treated as part of the strategy to reduce antibiotic resistance in humans. The Daily Mail reports that, speaking at the Cambridge Science Festival, CMO Dame Sally […]
RUMA challenges claims of ‘staggering’ impact on human health from farm antibiotics

RUMA is disappointed that an inaccurate press release from the Soil Association led to these reports in The Sunday Times and The Daily Mail. Mr FitzGerald said that research into antibiotic resistance in The Netherlands had initially suggested a link between resistant bacteria in humans and poultry and had estimated the number of deaths that […]