A new website explaining the facts about antibiotic use in livestock and offering advice on tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been launched by Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture (RUMA).
The organisation has also reacted sharply this week to media-based calls by medics for an immediate UK ban on preventative mass medication of farmed livestock.
On the website front, RUMA’s action is designed to help consolidate scientific data and details of the steps being taken to tackle the challenge of resistant bacteria in livestock, gathering all relevant information into one place.
The website also seeks to explain the facts about AMR to a wider audience, giving people a “reality view” of the issues involved from a farm livestock perspective.
On the “media ban” issues, RUMA commented: “This type of orchestrated rhetoric, supported by scant facts, is potentially harmful to the health and welfare of our farm animals, pets and horses.
“We currently use 37% of the UK’s antibiotics to manage disease and infection, and produce safe food from over a billion farm animals in the UK every year.
“Strict withdrawal periods mean antibiotic residues in food are not an issue, but overall use, as in human medicine, must fall as farming plays its part in reducing the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.”