December 2020

Welcome to our Winter newsletter

World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2020 #WAAW2020 took place on the 18th to the 24th of November and provided the opportunity to raise global awareness of the dangers of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and the need for responsible antibiotic use in both human and veterinary medicine. We released the latest Alliance report shortly afterwards. WAAW is a good opportunity for everyone working in the field of AMR to promote their messages, and a number of other relevant reports were published during the week. We’ve put together a round-up of the reports we think you’ll find most useful in our news from elsewhere section.

Looking ahead to the New Year, the Alliance will be holding a webinar on the 4th of March 2021. We welcome you to join us for the discussion. Please save the date in your diaries and watch this space for sign up and registration information.
Wishing you a Happy Holiday Season from all of the Alliance team!

Suzi Shingler,
Campaign Manager, Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics
 

• New RUMA targets for UK livestock sectors 2021-2024 The Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture (RUMA) Alliance - an industry alliance of farming, veterinary medicine and pharmaceutical-industry organisations - have set new targets for antibiotic use in British livestock. The targets, covering the period from 2021-2024, follow on from earlier targets set by RUMA for the 2017-2020 period. Most of these earlier targets have already been achieved or on track to be met by the end of December.
• Sustainable Food Trust on the misuse of antibiotics in US livestock  A new report by the Sustainable Food Trust, Maximum Growth: Whatever the Cost, finds that US cattle, pig, chicken and turkey farms are routinely treated with four antibiotics that have been banned in the UK for all purposes and two others that have never been permitted here for growth promotion. They also use a further four antibiotics, in ways that would be illegal in the UK. The drugs are used at low levels in feed, for prolonged periods, to make animals grow faster and suppress disease in beef feedlots and other factory farms, sustaining the ideal conditions for the development of antibiotic resistance.
• Food Foundation supermarket report Plating up Progress, a new Food Foundation report, maps the current commitments, targets and performance reporting of 11 major UK supermarkets, as well as 15 major UK-operating caterers, quick service and casual-dining restaurant chains. As part of this report the Food Foundation asked for public disclosure of antibiotic policies, banning the use of antibiotics for growth-promotion purposes, and restricting the use of medically important antibiotics. The report found that although supermarkets were ahead on number and ambition of targets, antibiotics policy and disclosure across all sectors was inconsistent but that progress was being made.
• World Animal Protection (WAP) on factory farming A new WAP report, ‘Fuelling the Pandemic’, reveals the long-term threat of factory farming to the health of humans, animals and the planet. The report finds that antibiotics are used routinely to prop up low animal-welfare practices on factory farms. This misuse of antibiotics can lead to antibiotic-resistant bacteria which spread to workers, the environment and into the food chain. According to the report, each year 131,000 tons of antibiotics are used in livestock farming, over 50 billion animals are suffering on factory farms, and 75 per cent of all antibiotics used in the world are used in farming.
• Financial Times (FT) Special Report The FT has produced a Special Report on the Future of Antibiotics examining the causes and effects of an increasing global resistance to antibiotics: from the pressures doctors are under to prescribe them even for viral infections, to what new treatments are currently in the pipeline, as well as what role can the consumer play in reducing antibiotic use in the food chain.