Our Big Pig Problem: US should follow Denmark & Stop giving Farm Animals low-dose Antibiotics

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For more than 50 years microbiologists have warned against using
antibiotics to fatten up farm animals. The practice, they argue,
threatens human health by turning farms into breeding grounds of drug-
resistant bacteria. Farmers responded that restricting antibiotics in
livestock would devastate the industry and significantly raise costs
to consumers. We now have empirical data that should resolve this
debate. Since 1995 Denmark has enforced progressively tighter rules on
the use of antibiotics in the raising of pigs, poultry and other
livestock. In the process, it has shown that it is possible to protect
human health without hurting farmers.

Farmers in many countries use antibiotics in two key ways: (1) at full
strength to treat animals that are sick and (2) in low doses to fatten
meat-producing livestock or to prevent veterinary illnesses. (It is
illegal in the U.S. to sell milk for human consumption from dairy
cattle treated with antibiotics.) Although even the proper use of
antibiotics can inadvertently lead to the spread of drug-resistant
bacteria, the habit of using a low or subtherapeutic dose is a formula
for disaster: the treatment provides just enough antibiotic to kill
some but not all bacteria. The germs that survive are typically those
that happen to bear genetic mutations for resisting the antibiotic.
They then reproduce and exchange genes with other microbial resisters.
Because bacteria are found literally everywhere, resistant strains
produced in animals eventually find their way into people as well. You
could not design a better system for guaranteeing the spread of
antibiotic resistance.

The data from multiple studies over the years support the conclusion
that low doses of antibiotics in animals increase the number of drug-
resistant microbes in both animals and people. As Joshua M.
Sharfstein, a principal deputy commissioner at the Food and Drug
Administration, told a U.S. congressional subcommittee last summer,
“You actually can trace the specific bacteria around and ... find that
the resistant strains in humans match the resistant strains in the
animals.” And this science is what led Denmark to stop subtherapeutic
dosing of chickens, pigs and other farm animals.

Although the transition unfolded smoothly in the poultry industry, the
average weight of pigs fell in the first year. But after Danish
farmers started leaving sows and piglets together a few weeks longer
to bolster the littermates’ immune systems naturally, the animals’
weights jumped back up, and the number of pigs per litter increased as
well. The lesson is that improving animal husbandry—making sure that
pens, stalls and cages are properly cleaned and giving animals more
room or time to mature—offsets the initial negative impact of limiting
antibiotic use. Today Danish industry reports that productivity is
higher than before. Meanwhile reports of antibiotic resistance in
Danish people are mixed, which shows—as if we needed reminding—that
there are no quick fixes.

Lest anyone argue that Denmark is too small to offer a reasonable
parallel to the U.S., consider that it is the world’s largest exporter
of pork. Like U.S. farmers, Danes raise pigs on an intensive,
industrial scale. If they can figure out how to limit antibiotic use
while actually increasing agricultural productivity, then so can
Americans.

The American Medical Association, the Infectious Diseases Society of
America, the American Public Health Association, a previous FDA
commissioner and many others have advised the U.S. to follow suit.
Last year the FDA published new guidelines calling for “judicious use”
of antibiotics. Yet it ultimately left the decision on exactly when
and where to use antibiotics up to individual farmers. That laissez-
faire standard is not good enough, particularly when the health of the
rest of the population is at stake.

Of course, the way veterinary antibiotics are used is not the only
cause of human drug-resistant infections. Careless use of the drugs in
people also contributes to the problem. But agricultural use is still
a major contributing factor. Every day that passes brings new evidence
that we are in danger of losing effective antibiotic protection
against many of the most dangerous bacteria that cause human illness
[see “The Enemy Within,” by Maryn McKenna=]. The technical issues are
solvable. Denmark’s example proves that it is possible to cut
antibiotic use on farms without triggering financial disaster. In
fact, it might provide a competitive advantage. Stronger measures to
deprive drug-resistant bacteria of their agricultural breeding grounds
simply make scientific, economic and common sense.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=our-big-pig-problem