The National Pig Association (NPA) says that the headline recommendations in the O’Neill report on antimicrobial resistance are “right” and will be incorporated into the recently launched Pig Industry Antibiotic Stewardship Programme.
“We support the report’s view that unnecessary use of antimicrobials in agriculture can cause a threat to human health and we agree with its key findings concerning agriculture,” said NPA chief executive. Dr Zoe Davies.
“Its recommendations regarding improved animal health education, the need for accurate data on antibiotic usage, and restricting the use of last-resort antibiotics are already included in our new stewardship programme. Our goal now will be to ensure our aspirations are aligned with the O’Neill report in key areas and to make sure our stewardship programme moves forward as quickly as possible.”
Noting that the report voices particular concern about countries where non-targeted use of antibiotics is still allowed, NPA senior adviser, Georgina Crayford, added: “We can’t do much ourselves about countries where antibiotics are used indiscriminately, but we can take the necessary actions to make sure our own standards are beyond reproach.
“Although the British pig industry aims to be a responsible user of antibiotics, there is inevitably room for improvement, and this will be our focus as we step up collection of data so we can introduce best-practice bench-marking.”