The livestock industry consumes nearly half of the nation's antibiotics, contaminating soil and rivers through manure

The livestock industry "eats up" nearly half of our country's antibiotics

Let food safety take off, antibiotics can no longer run wild

Recently, news of antibiotic contamination breaking out in Nanjing, Guangzhou, Shandong and many other places has once again struck a nerve: some antibiotic manufacturers are discharging wastewater that exceeds standards, some livestock and poultry breeding enterprises are abusing antibiotics and discharging wastewater, and not only do rivers and water bodies exceed antibiotic limits, there are even reports that tap water in many places also has excessive levels. "Actually, drug residues and pesticide residues in the farming and breeding industries have been troubling the food industry for more than a day or two, and especially the drug residues and environmental pollution caused by antibiotic abuse have already become the most prominent problem in food safety. It is like a hidden abscess that is bound to burst sooner or later," asserted one industry insider.

Livestock drug use accounts for half

Many people may think that antibiotics are used most in the medical system, that is, "used on people." Actually, this is not the case. Xiao Yonghong, a member of the Antibiotics Professional Committee of the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association, said, "Actually it is not, but rather in the breeding industry that is constantly related to our dining tables, accounting for more than half of the total domestic antibiotic consumption. After China began rectification in 2011, the situation of antibiotic abuse in large hospitals improved. But from some documents I have obtained, there has still not been much improvement in the field of breeding." It is understood that antibiotics account for more than 6% of the total prescription drugs in human medical drug use, but account for more than 70% of veterinary drug use, making them absolutely the largest share of veterinary drugs. As early as 2006, antibiotics used in the livestock and feed industries reached as high as 97,000 tons, accounting for 54% of the then domestic antibiotic consumption of 180,000 tons. Some experts conservatively estimate that the amount of antibiotics used in the livestock and feed industries now has nearly doubled compared with 2006. This far exceeds the amount needed to treat animal diseases.

"No one would give a child cold medicine or antibiotics before the child gets sick, but breeders will feed medicine to chickens, ducks, pigs, cattle and sheep in advance to prevent disease," a professional told reporters bluntly. This naturally brings about the problem of antibiotic abuse. After animals eat antibiotics, only a very small portion is absorbed, and most is excreted with feces. It is estimated that China produces 700 million tons of animal manure a year. The antibiotics in this manure will eventually enter groundwater or rivers with rainwater, becoming a major cause of environmental pollution, and are very difficult to neutralize or break down.

Pollution taints meat and harms fruits, vegetables and grains

"People do not live in a vacuum," Xiao Yonghong said. An individual not abusing antibiotics only means that the individual can avoid directly producing drug-resistant bacteria in the body, but cannot avoid drug-resistant bacteria in the environment.

They are not only present in animal meat, but also in fruits, vegetables and grains, because soil and rivers will also be polluted, and drug-resistant bacteria are everywhere!

Due to multiple reasons such as high breeding density, complex and diverse livestock and poultry diseases, and inadequate supervision, problems such as excessive use and even abuse of antibiotics are widespread in the breeding industry.

In order to increase sales, some veterinary drug manufacturers use uncommon veterinary drug names to pass them off as new drugs and deceive breeders. In particular, with the emergence of large numbers of compound veterinary drugs, dealers' "detailed and thoughtful" recommended medication procedures have also intensified the excessive and long-term use of antibiotics.

The abuse of antibiotics in China's breeding industry has already formed a vicious cycle, and the food safety problems it causes are very serious. Long-term consumption of "antibiotic-containing food" will also cause consumers' drug resistance to increase imperceptibly. "If measures are not taken to control bacterial resistance, then in the future there will be no way to use drugs," Xiao Yonghong introduced. A resistance report once issued by the United Kingdom pointed out that if global resistance continues to develop like this, by 2050, 10 million people worldwide will die each year because of drug resistance.

Xiao Yonghong said: "Judging from the resistance data released by the World Health Organization in 2014, China is one of the countries with relatively serious resistance. This is certainly related to the unreasonable use of antibiotics."