'Addicted' to antibiotics in livestock farming

Information during the Antibiotic Resistance Communication Week conducted by the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit VN (OUCRU - VN) in Dong Thap province shows that the situation of farmers abusing drugs, causing poultry to become 'addicted' to antibiotics, is alarming.

5-7 times higher than Europe

The Zoonotic Diseases Research Group (ViParc) of OUCRU compared the situation of chickens being fed antibiotics by their farm owners to the point of addiction and requiring urgent "detoxification" activities.

A survey by the ViParc Project at over 200 broiler farms in the Mekong Delta region shows that on average, a broiler in this region uses 470 mg of antibiotics, 5-7 times higher than broilers raised in Europe. Of which, more than 85% of antibiotics are used for disease prevention purposes, up to 95% are used through drinking water.

In addition, according to the research team, the use of premixed antibiotics in animal feed may account for up to 25% of the total antibiotics used in poultry farming.

Antibiotic abuse in livestock farming is on the rise.

In fact, antibiotic abuse or antibiotic resistance in livestock farming has been warned for a long time.

Most recently, at the conference to deploy the national action plan on antibiotic management and antibiotic prevention in livestock and aquaculture, organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in coordination with FAO and USAID, experts emphasized that the overuse of antibiotics in livestock farming in Vietnam not only leads to bacterial resistance but also leaves antibiotic residues in human food.

ViParc also said that the use of antibiotics in livestock is expected to increase in the next decade, with the trend of increasing demand for meat and livestock farming practices in developing countries. Antibiotic use in livestock farming in Vietnam is predicted to increase by 157% from 2010 to 2030.

Stop using from 2020

Biotechnology expert Dr. Hanh Van said that in animal husbandry, if antibiotics are used in the correct dosage and time according to the instructions, then there is no problem. However, in Vietnam, because users abuse them, often overdose with the desire to "prevent disease rather than cure", or use antibiotics close to the slaughter date, if they eat chicken or pork that is still contaminated with antibiotics that have not been eliminated, users will naturally "benefit" from hidden antibiotics, which will have a significant impact on their health in the long term.

According to Dr. Hanh Van, using antibiotics in livestock farming as well as pesticides in farming, each type of pesticide has a certain half-life (meaning the toxicity of the pesticide gradually decreases), if pesticides are applied close to the harvest date, people who eat these vegetables will be poisoned in the liver, kidneys...

“If people eat meat contaminated with high levels of antibiotics, the risk of antibiotic resistance is also very high. Antibiotic resistance, as well as antibiotic resistance genes, can be transmitted from animals to humans through direct contact, food and the environment,” said pharmaceutical expert, Dr. Nguyen Duc Thai (USA), consultant at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City.

According to the ViParc research group, antibiotic resistance has become a global threat, causing 700,000 deaths every year. Without practical actions, by 2050, the world will have about 10 million deaths each year.

Dr. Thai said that the overuse of antibiotics in livestock farming has a huge impact on exports. Evidence is that many batches of seafood have been returned due to antibiotic residue or exceeding the threshold. In 2016, there were 40 batches, in 2015, there were 70 batches.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam will only allow the use of antibiotics in animal feed until the end of 2017, and will ban their use in 2018. The roadmap set by the ministry is that from 2020 onwards, Vietnam will completely stop the use of antibiotics, including in medical treatment and animal feed.

The list of antibiotics allowed to be used in animal feed is expected to be reduced from 43 types previously to 15 types and will only be allowed to be used until December 31, 2017.

According to Thanh Nien Newspaper