In September we revealed E.coli bacteria resistant to three highly important antibiotics across UK-origin pig and chicken meat from major supermarkets. The findings provided yet more evidence that the systematic overuse of antibiotics in intensive farming is fuelling the emergence of resistant bacteria, which can pass to people through the environment, or via the meat that we eat.
Zac Goldsmith MP has tabled an Early Day Motion (EDM) to highlight the risks posed by the overuse of antibiotics in farming, and the need for action from supermarkets to reduce antibiotic use in their supply chains. Caroline Lucas MP has now taken over sponsorship of this motion.
With the antibiotic resistance crisis predicted to kill one person every three seconds by 2050, it’s time for urgent action by all stakeholders to reduce farm antibiotic use and shift to farming systems where animals are kept healthy through good welfare, not routine medication.
Together, we can send a clear signal to UK supermarkets, and encourage them to act to save our antibiotics for future generations. Ask your MP to sign the EDM in a few simple steps:
1. Check to see if your local MP has already signed the EDM
2. If not, use this website to write to your MP
3. Copy and paste in the template email below
4. Sign and submit!
"Dear [MP]
Please sign the Early Day Motion 488 tabled by Zac Goldsmith MP, calling on UK supermarkets to take action on farm antibiotics
You may be aware of the discovery, in September this year, of the presence of E.coli resistant to multiple crucial antibiotics on British supermarket pig and chicken meat (of UK origin).
The findings, along with even more recent discovery of MRSA on UK-origin supermarket pork, provide further evidence that the overuse of antibiotics in intensive farming is fuelling the emergence of resistant bacteria and undermining the treatment of dangerous bacterial infections in humans.
Many important antibiotics are used in far greater quantities in livestock farming than in human medicine. Livestock, particularly pigs and poultry, are often kept in intensive conditions where the risk of disease is high. These animals are often ‘mass-medicated’ via their feed or water, even when no disease has been diagnosed in any of the animals.
With the antibiotic resistance crisis predicted to kill one person every three seconds by 2050, UK supermarkets must share the responsibility for tackling this crisis; by banning the routine preventative mass medication of groups of animals and dramatically curbing farm use of the ‘critically important’ antibiotics in their supply chains. Crucially, supermarkets must set specifications around good animal husbandry – which will help to reduce the need for antibiotics in the first place.
Some UK supermarkets are already taking action on antibiotics.
As your constituent, I would like to request that you sign this Early Day Motion, which has the potential to send a clear signal to all supermarkets and encourage a wholesale industry shift towards genuinely responsible farm antibiotic use.
Sign here: http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2016-17/488
Yours Sincerely,
[Name]"
