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The Danes have done it again. Denmark is one of the largest pork exporting countries in the world, yet it has just reported (PDF) that total use of antibiotics for pig production in the country decreased 30 percent from 2010 to 2011. This announcement brings Denmark’s total antibiotic use down to 2001-2002 levels, a significant achievement considering that from 2002-2009 antibiotic use for treating sick animals rose 47 percent in the country. The reduction in antibiotic use is a substantial accomplishment for public health and shows how an industry can dramatically transform its practices with government and public support.
Here’s why it is so important: In human medicine, antibiotic use is generally confined to treatment of illness. But in many countries including the U.S., antibiotics are routinely given to healthy food animals on many industrial farms so they can grow faster while compensating for unsanitary conditions. These low doses of antibiotics kill off the weak bacteria, but leave dangerous, antibiotic-resistant “superbugs” that are increasingly threatening human health. In fact, since the 1970s, hundreds of scientific studies have found a link between the routine, non-therapeutic uses of antibiotics in food animal production and the crisis of antibiotic resistance in humans.
Recognizing the potential for a health crisis, Denmark stopped the administration of antibiotics used for growth promotion (i.e., non-medical uses) in broiler chickens and young pigs (finishers) in 1998, and in baby pigs (weaners) in 1999. In Denmark today (PDF), all uses of antibiotics in food animals must be prescribed by a veterinarian. Additionally, farmers, veterinarians, and pharmacies must report the use and sale of antibiotics, and farm inspections are conducted regularly to ensure antibiotics are not being misused on the farm.
The new data show positive trends for public health, indicating that ending antibiotic misuse for animals positively impacts humans. The level of antibiotic-resistant bacteria found in imported meat or poultry was higher than the levels found in Danish meat and poultry. What’s more, antibiotic-resistant bacteria found in people were much higher in cases where the person had a history of travel outside of Denmark.
Good for Hogs, Good for Business
The reduction of antibiotics use has not negatively impacted the Danish pork industry. The Danish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries says, “In Denmark the termination of non-therapeutic use of antibiotics for growth promotion has not caused any negative impact on the animal production. The Danish animal food industry has continued to improve its productivity and to increase its output.” Swine production has increased, the pigs are healthier, and their mortality rates have not increased.
World-Traveling Superbugs: Global Action Needed
Superbugs don’t respect national borders and represent a global public health threat. Denmark is a successful model that the United States and other countries can draw upon to help guide the implementation of policies that stop the injudicious use of antibiotics in food animal production. Denmark’s experience demonstrates that such a move can benefit public health without harming the bottom line of farmers.
Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) today introduced the Preventing Antibiotic Resistance Act, a bipartisan bill that would eliminate certain antibiotic-related practices that contribute to the rise of drug-resistant bacteria and endanger human health. The legislation is co-sponsored by Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Jack Reed (D-RI), Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA).
More infoThis bibliography lists the latest published scientific and economic literature concerning the contribution of routine antibiotic use in food animals to the growing public health crisis of human antibiotic resistance. Research on how antibiotic use in food animal production contributes to the growing health crisis of antibiotic resistance dates back more than 30 years.
More infoPew Charitable Trusts today applauded Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Susan Collins (R-ME), for introducing the Antimicrobial Data Collection Act, which would require the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, to report more information on the annual sales of antibiotics used among industrial farm animals. The bipartisan bill would also give the agency a deadline to finalize policies proposed last year to eliminate the use of antibiotics for growth promotion purposes in meat production.
More info"As a nation, we need to exercise greater care with our use of antibiotics, in both humans and animals, so that these medications remain effective in treating serious bacterial infections."
More infoSuperChefs Against Superbugs, an initiative of the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming, is a movement of chefs nationwide who have expressed their support of ending the misuse and overuse of antibiotics in food animal production. As a result, the SuperChefs are urging the Food and Drug Administration to strengthen its antibiotic policies.
More infoSuperChefs Against Superbugs, an initiative of the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming, is a movement of chefs who want to stop the overuse of antibiotics in food animal production. On April 23, the following seven chefs visited Capitol Hill to explain why they serve meat and poultry raised without antibiotics.
More infoIt used to be easy to treat healthy children with common bacterial infections; a regimen of antibiotic pills could usually wipe out the disease. Today, patients might need to go home on intravenous antibiotics because oral therapies will no longer work. Antibiotic resistance is to blame.
More infoA past bout of salmonella led Maine resident Danielle Wadsworth to travel to Washington, D.C. this week to argue for stronger regulations to curtail the use of antibiotics in livestock farming. She took part Wednesday in "Supermoms Against Superbugs," an initiative of the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming.
More infoDr. Cecilia Di Pentima is in Washington, D.C., for “Supermoms against Superbugs” to push for laws to curtail the use of antibiotics in livestock farming — one of many fronts in the battle to preserve the effectiveness of the medicines. Family physicians in the South, including Tennessee, have also been identified as inadvertent purveyors of drug-resistant bacteria by prescribing too many antibiotics.
More infoEach year, tens of thousands of Americans die and hundreds of thousands are hospitalized because of bacterial infections resistant to antibiotics. Antibiotic overuse on industrial farms is a big part of the problem. The largest U.S. meat and poultry producers feed antibiotics to healthy animals over much of their lives to make them grow faster and to compensate for the overcrowded and unsanitary conditions in which they are bred and slaughtered.
More infoOn behalf of the undersigned organizations representing medical, public health, scientific, agricultural, environmental, animal protection, and other organizations, we urge you to include H.R. 820, the Delivering Antimicrobial Transparency in Animals (DATA) Act, as part of the final Animal Drug User Fee Act (ADUFA). This legislation provides a reasonable, common-sense approach to better understanding antibiotic use in agriculture.
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