The Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics is calling on the UK government to align with the EU on farm-antibiotic standards and ban the importation of meat, dairy and eggs produced with antibiotic growth promoters.
On 3 September, the EU will be banning the importation of all meat, dairy and eggs that have been produced with the use of antibiotics as growth promoters [1]. This new law is putting pressure on countries that use antibiotics in livestock irresponsibly to raise their standards if they wish to continue exporting to the EU.
According to the World Health Organization, the spread of resistance to antibiotics, which occurs most frequently when antibiotics are overused, is one of the top public-health and development threats [2]. To minimise the threat of antibiotic resistance spreading through the food chain, EU and British farmers have not been allowed to use antibiotics for growth promotion since 2006 [3]. However, until now, countries exporting into the EU or the UK have been permitted to use them.
Developments in Brazil show that the EU’s upcoming ban is already having an effect. In an apparent attempt to avoid Brazilian meat being banned from the lucrative EU market, a new Brazilian regulation has prohibited the use several medically important antibiotics (avoparcin, bacitracin and virginiamycin) as growth promoters in animal feed [4][5], although several other antibiotics (avilamycin, enramycin and flavomycin), which are not currently classified as medically important, continue to be allowed as growth promoters.
However, when in May the EU published a provisional list of animal products from different countries that will be permitted to be imported into the EU, no Brazilian meat, dairy or eggs were included. This means that importing Brazilian animal products into the EU is currently due to be prohibited in September [6][7].
Cóilín Nunan of the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics said: “The EU’s upcoming ban on importing meat produced with antibiotic growth promoters is very welcome. Brazil’s move to ban several antibiotic growth promoters shows that when the EU insists on high standards for access to its market, other countries are encouraged to lift their standards. If Brazil wants to export its meat to the EU, it now needs to ban all antibiotic growth promoters and put in place systems to ensure compliance.”
The European Commission has said that if Brazil can ensure compliance with the new EU rules for the entire lifetime of the animals, then Brazilian exports to the EU will be able to resume [8].
Cóilín Nunan said: “Extending the EU’s ban on antibiotic growth promotion will help protect public health and shield farmers from unfair competition. The UK government needs to implement a similar ban, to protect its consumers and farmers. The new Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement that is being negotiated between the UK and the EU provides an ideal opportunity for the UK to align with the EU on this and other important farm-antibiotic standards [9].”
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