The British Veterinary Association (BVA) has issued a critical response on the recent antibiotics report released by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), including the comment that it “would have appreciated the opportunity to feed into the report”.
While welcoming APPG’s overall work on the report, BVA president Sean Wensley said he was “concerned that critical evidence has not been considered”.
“The UK’s Five Year AMR Strategy (co-authored by Defra and the Department of Health) clearly states that AMR in human medicine is primarily the result of antibiotic use in people, rather than animals,” said BVA. “Yet the APPG report recommends that specific classes of antibiotics, such as cephalosporins, be withdrawn from veterinary use and reserved for human use only.
“BVA believes such a disproportionate approach, without sound scientific risk-assessment, could have a detrimental effect on animal welfare and the maintenance of high quality food production, and is unlikely to reduce resistance in humans.”
The association also said that, as the UK’s leading representative body for the veterinary profession, it would have appreciated the opportunity to feed into the report.
“We believe that responsible use,” added BVA, “alongside improved biosecurity, further development of diagnostic tools, and better-coordinated research and surveillance will have far greater impact on AMR in humans and animals.”