Antimicrobial monitoring needs to be conducted at “vet level” not farm level, says the National Farmers’ Union of Scotland (NFUS).
Reporting on the union’s involvement in a series of meetings in Brussels with Copa and the European Commission (EC), NFUS livestock committee chairman Charlie Adam, said he believed that farmers must not be left with an increased amount of red tape as a result of the need to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
“The EC is proposing a five-year plan to combat antimicrobial resistance with investigations ongoing as to how antibiotics are used in each member state,” said Mr Adam (pictured above), adding that there was clearly wide variations of approach to AMR between countries.
“There was consensus at the meetings that there must be a balance between responsible use, animal welfare and ensuring resistance does not build-up. It was also agreed that access must not be lost to some vital antimicrobials for use as a last resort.”
While fully in tune with the debate, however, he added that any recording and identification of excessive use should be done at vet level, not farm level.
