Deadly UK superbugs: the spread of AMR in our environment
News
Our report reveals rivers are awash with superbug pollution around UK factory farms. Urgent government action is needed to prevent a potential health crisis.
Yesterday, MPs from far and wide joined World Animal Protection and the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics at the Parliamentary launch of Superbugs in the Environment focused on our recent report, Life-threatening superbugs: how factory farm pollution risks human health. This campaign calls for urgent action to prevent a human health crisis caused by superbug pollution around UK factory farms.
The report reveals concerning new findings that antibiotic-resistant superbugs were found in rivers and waterways in areas with high levels of factory farming in Sussex, Norfolk and the Wye Valley.
Resistance was found in dangerous bacteria like E.coli and S.aureus to antibiotics including cefotaxime and vancomycin, both classified by the World Health Organization as critically important in human medicine. Vancomycin is the antibiotic used to treat potentially deadly MRSA infections
Around 80% of all animals in the UK live on factory farms. These farms’ squalid, cruel and cramped conditions force the need for wide-scale preventative antibiotic use – without which those animals would not survive. Superbugs from factory farms reach people in many ways via our rivers, for example, in drinking water; swimming and recreational activities; or the consumption of fish from contaminated waters. Unless the government takes action, the UK faces a human health crisis whereby disease can no longer be treated due to antibiotic resistance.
The UK farming industry has managed to reduce its antibiotic use by 55% since 2014, but far greater reductions are still needed. Unfortunately, the UK government has refused to ban preventative group treatments - as the EU has done - despite having previously promised to do so. The World Health Organisation estimates that 1.27 million people die globally each year as a direct result of antimicrobial resistance (AMR ), and this will rise to 10 million by 2050 if action is not taken now. This would far outweigh the impact of Covid 19 and make minor infections and common surgeries potentially deadly.
This week the government launched a call for evidence on the antimicrobial resistance national action plan. It is imperative that a much-needed ban on the overuse of antibiotics in healthy herds will be introduced as a part of the action plan.
Some key findings from our ground breaking report include:
- Resistance was found to the antibiotic cefotaxime in E. coli and vancomycin in S. aureus. Both of these antibiotics are classified by the World Health Organization as highest-priority critically important antimicrobials in human medicine. Resistance was also found to ampicillin, cefazoline and trimethoprim in some of the E. coli, and erythromycin and trimethoprim in some of the S. aureus. All these antibiotics are classified as highest-priority critically important, critically important or highly important in human medicine.
- Testing was also carried out for two antibiotic-resistance genes, Sul1 and Tet b. When bacteria acquire antibiotic-resistance genes, they may become antibiotic resistant. Sul 1, which confers resistance to sulphonamides, which are classified as highly important in human medicine, was found more consistently downstream than upstream of factory pig and chicken farms. This suggests resistance is entering the environment from these farms.
- None of the four higher-welfare outdoor pig or chicken farms tested had higher levels of any type of resistance downstream than was found upstream. This means that no evidence was found that these higher-welfare farms are contributing to superbugs in the environment. On the other hand, five of the eight intensive farms had more of at least one type of resistance downstream than upstream.
Read more in our full report here.
Pictured left to right, Cóilín Nunan (Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics), Gareth Morgan (Soil Association), James West (Compassion in World Farming), and Jane Tredgett (Alliance to Save our Antibiotics).
Lindsay Duncan, World Animal Protection farming campaigns manager, said:
“Our report shows that our rivers are awash with superbugs. The World Health Organization has estimated that antibiotic resistance will be the leading cause of death globally by 2050 with a total economic cost of £66 trillion – this is a human health crisis. We are calling on the UK government to act now, to raise welfare standards, prevent suffering and ban routine preventative use of antibiotics on farm animals. If the welfare of farm animals was improved, there would be no need for this dangerous and unnecessary use of antibiotics that is such a threat to human health.”
Dr Shireen Kassam, Consultant Haematologist and Founder of Plant-Based Health Professionals UK, said:
“As a hospital consultant, my patients are already being directly impacted by the consequences of the widespread use of antibiotics in farming. Antibiotic resistant infections are commonplace and global data has confirmed that no country is spared from the dire consequences of these infections with rising rates of death directly caused by these resistant infections. There is no doubt that to meaningfully reduce the health-related burden of antibiotic resistant infections we need to drastically reduce the production and consumption of animal-derived foods, with a special emphasis on eliminating intensive farming practices that necessitate the overuse of antibiotics.”
Worldwide, approximately 65% percent of antibiotics are used on animals to prevent them getting ill in poor conditions, placing a burden on health services.
World Animal Protection is calling on the Government to stop the spread of factory farms and ban the routine use of antibiotics on herds of healthy animals.
Within 24 hours of launching our campaign to thousands of emails were sent to MPs across the country. If you haven't already, you can still contact your MP and demand they take action.