According to a report by three European health agencies, the use of antimicrobial medicines in livestock farming has decreased by 43.2% in the past 10 years. The drug agency EMA, the food safety authority EFSA, and the disease prevention service ECDC note that the decline is especially evident in countries where medicines were previously used extensively.
The more than forty percent reduction over ten years is, according to the EU agencies, clear evidence of many years of awareness raising and training on responsible use of antibiotics in animals. It is also viewed as growing recognition that the European animal sector has made solid progress.
Efforts regarding responsible use extend not only to the quantities but also to the classes of antibiotics being used. The report also highlights ongoing declines in the sales of veterinary antibiotics considered medically important: 32.8% for 3rd and 4th generation cephalosporins; 76.5% for polymyxins; 12.8% for fluoroquinolones; and 85.4% for other quinolones.
The three agencies expressed their pleasure with the new EU rules for veterinary medicines coming into effect in January. The new regulations require that sales volumes be reported by animal species and by antimicrobial product. This can help to better understand what further measures are needed to reduce the necessity of using antibiotics in animals, said Roxane Feller, Secretary-General of AnimalhealthEurope.
The release of the European figures on antibiotics in animal proteins coincided with the publication of a new UN report on the still rising global antimicrobial resistance. This FAO annual report was prepared under the leadership of the Dutch Coen H.M. Smits, head of R&D at Trouw Nutrition in Amersfoort, with contributions from Leo den Hartog of Wageningen University & Research and several Chinese and American researchers.
The UN report mentions, among other things, the Dutch agreement of all stakeholders to collaborate on reducing antibiotics. 'In the first five years, the Netherlands achieved a 60% reduction of antibiotics in pigs and poultry. Since 2015, we have added another 10%, so we are now 70% below the reference year 2009.'
Other countries followed a similar approach a few years later and are now also very successful. China, the US, and many EU countries have achieved significant reductions in antibiotic use in recent years, ranging from 30% to 60%,' Smits said in an interview with Global Ag Media.