GM-free Scotland

After many years of constant effort, the Soil Association finally succeeded in persuading the whole of the EU to ban the use of antibiotics to promote the growth of livestock.

However, this is only half the battle. Antibiotics are still given routinely and regularly to intensively reared animals. This allows them to survive near intolerable living conditions without succumbing to contagious diseases. Farming accounts for over one-half of all the antibiotics used, and 75 per cent of these are given as mass medication in feed.

The combination of over-prescription of antibiotics to humans, especially for minor ailments, and the constant dosing of animals to provide cheap meat, has squandered one of the most important medical advances ever. The micro-organisms we have been deluging with chemicals, have simply evolved an ability to tolerate every antibiotic we've got. Serious food-poisoning from drug-resistant Salmonella on farms has long been a problem. Now the superbug, MRSA, is spreading in farm animals and transferring to humans. In the Netherlands, for example, 39% of pigs and almost 50% of pig farmers are infected. In Dutch hospitals, 25% of all MRSA cases are now caused by the farm-animal strain, and farmers are no longer permitted in general wards without prior screening.

A new superbug, an almost untreatable type of E. coli which is a major cause of urinary tract infection and blood poisoning, is spreading globally and causing large numbers of deaths. The new strain, 'extended-spectrum B-lactamase' ESBL E. coli, carries a 30% risk of death.

OUR COMMENT

The problem of burgeoning antibiotic resistance could be exacerbated by the routine use of GM feed for intensively reared animals. GM feed crops still commonly (and against scientific advice) contain an added antibiotic gene which scientific tests have shown can transfer into microbes at any stage in the digestive process.

Antibiotic-resistance transfer, even at a minor, background level, is a serious consideration because there aren't very many completely unrelated antibiotics around. If a bug becomes resistant to one, the chances are it will also become immune to the many similar drugs in clinical use.

There is a big and dangerous unknown here. Man-made DNA consists of a construct of viral bits, bacterial bits, plant bits and the odd entirely invented bit, all restructured by human hand for use inside a different organism from the ones they were originally found in. How much will the evolution of pathogenic microbes be altered by the peculiar qualities of such DNA. And, artificial DNA is notoriously unstable. How will the tendency to transfer between organisms be affected? How will the rate at which new anti-biotic resistance can emerge be affected?

The wider social issues of farmers driven off the land by intensive farming and by the huge costs of high-tech agricultural inputs are being thoroughly supported by GM crops world-wide. In the treadmills of poverty, leading to poor health, leading to more poverty, and poor health leading to antibiotic use, leading to more antibiotic use, GM feed is supporting every stage.

The Soil Association would like to see antibiotics in feed prohibited so that there would be no alternative but to keep animals in more humane conditions. The whole GM crop industry is currently geared to supporting intensive livestock. Both are fueling the spread of superbugs and the cost in pounds, dollars and human misery is huge.

The Soil Association is calling for:

• The phasing out of routine antibiotic use on farms
• a ban on advertising antibiotics to farmers
• restrictions on the use of specific antibiotics (fluoroquinolones and 3rd and 4th generation cephalosporins)
• safety data on drugs to be made publicly available
• risks to be assessed in a more precautionary way when drugs are approved
• withdrawal periods after drug use to be extended, in line with organic standards
• proper surveillance of antibiotic usage and antibiotic resistance in farm animals
• more support and resources for organic farming methods that reduce the need for antibiotics.
  

If you would like to support the Soil Association's initiative to curb the irresponsible use of antibiotics in farming, you might consider sending a donation to:

Soil Association

FREEPOST RRJE-LEER-XLHK

Bristol GS1 8NX

or 'phone the Soil Association credit card hotline on 0117 914 2447

Also, check out what the Institute of Science in Society, www.i-sis.org.uk, has to say on the subject of antibiotic resistance.