Antibiotic misuse must not be ignored: wake up early, benefit early

Recently, research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showed that the sharp growth in global demand for meat has led to a substantial increase in antimicrobial drugs in pork, beef and poultry. Attributing the reasons for antibiotic misuse by pig farmers around the world to consumers' growing demand for pork products is not objective. However, if this research result is taken as a warning, it still has great practical value and significance.

From a certain perspective, antibiotics are indispensable in the process of livestock and poultry breeding. They can help livestock and poultry resist disease and reduce farmers' economic losses, but once overused, they may bring serious consequences.

With economic development, people's demand for meat products is growing. At the same time, various meat products contain more and more antibiotics, which means that both the opportunities for and the amount of human intake of antibiotics will increase greatly. When the human body takes in excessive amounts of various antibiotics, drug resistance will occur, which in turn leads to the emergence of "superbugs" and poses a great threat to human health and life safety. According to researchers' estimates, if uncontrolled, by 2050 the global death toll from such "superbugs" will be as high as 10 million.

To avoid such an outcome, we need to act now and take various measures to reduce the use of antibiotics in livestock and poultry breeding. Government regulation is of course indispensable. Although it is impossible to inspect every household, it is possible to guide and urge farmers in their use of antibiotics by regulating downstream livestock and poultry meat products. For example, by setting a standard for the content of a certain antibiotic in livestock and poultry meat products, any product exceeding the standard for this antibiotic would not be allowed to enter the market for sale. This would prompt distributors to refuse to purchase such livestock and poultry products, and in turn influence and affect farms and farmers.

At the same time, guiding farms (farmers) to improve the livestock and poultry breeding environment and reduce the occurrence of various diseases is also an effective means of reducing antibiotic use. The breeding environment of domestic farms, especially some free-range households, is relatively poor in sanitation. To prevent livestock and poultry from getting sick, they can only increase the use of antibiotics. If the breeding environment is improved, the probability of livestock and poultry becoming ill will decrease, and their dependence on antibiotics will naturally be reduced as well. In addition to requiring the initiative and willingness of farms (farmers), this also requires government guidance and support in policies, funding and other aspects.