“Food is now cheaper and safer than it ever has been in the history of mankind, and this can be attributed almost solely to advances made in the field of animal and plant health. In turn, these advances have had a marked impact on the health and longevity of humans. Certainly, there remains a huge inequality in the distribution of this food, but overall supply is much higher,” Professor Lean said.

Antibiotics modify the bacterial population in the gut of poultry, swine and ruminants, producing a range of important health, productivity and environmental benefits. In doing so, these products help to provide an abundant, affordable and wholesome supply of food to consumers worldwide.

Despite these obvious benefits, the use of antibiotics in livestock production has come under increased, and often unwarranted, public scrutiny in recent years.

“First and foremost, it should be remembered that animal health products are about exactly that – animal health. Healthy, happy animals also happen to grow faster, which in turn, helps to create cheap, abundant wholesome food.

“The term antibiotic growth promotant is a misnomer. The primary reason why antibiotics make animals grow faster is because they prevent disease, and healthy animals grow faster than sick animals.”

Animal welfare / food safety

Dr Lean said the issue of antibiotic resistance had become enmeshed with similar controversies about animal welfare and food safety. “There appears to be intense interest in the food chain, yet most of us are now so far removed from it that we have never seen a cow being milked or collected an egg,” he said.

“We are so detached from the food chain that people don't relate to the reality of livestock production, and are easily misled, particularly by both well-meaning and single-issue people that have never been on a farm.

“I have absolutely no problem with free-range animal products so long as they are humanely produced. The well being of the animal is not always better under a free-range situation. Free range animals are at far greater risk of parasitism, disease and from the elements.

“Furthermore, it is not as environmentally sustainable. Certainly, it may be attractive to adopt this technology but the first thing that goes out the window is efficiency. If efficiency falls, supply falls and costs increase.

“30 years ago, we ate chicken once a month, at best. Now we are at the stage where chicken is almost the most common meat source in Australia. There is no doubt this is a direct result of improved efficiency of production.”

The future of antibiotics in Australia

Dr Lean said contrary to public belief, the livestock industry had an excellent track record for the responsible use of antibiotics. “Indeed, a major Australian review on the use of antibiotics in livestock production (Jetacar) concluded that antibiotics should continue to be used responsibly in this country,” he said.

Dr Lean said the EU ban was not only based on bad science, but on amoral politics. “The EU banned the use of four antibiotics as growth promotants at the end of 1998 without citing any new evidence or scientific data,” he said.

“In Denmark, there has been a 20% decrease in the overall use of antibiotics, but a marked increase in their therapeutic use. The end result is reduced growth rates and less healthy pigs. What would you rather eat?”

Providing a sustainable and abundant source of safe, wholesome food is arguably the greatest ecological challenge facing the world in the 21st century. Continued access to safe and cost-effective productivity-enhancing tools, such as antibiotics, will be vital to achieving this goal.

“If you banned the use of antibiotics in livestock, you would simply increase the incidence of disease and death in animals,” he said.

Antibiotic resistance

Dr Lean said antibiotic resistance is a legitimate and important concern. “Yes, there is the small theoretical risk that the use of antibiotics in livestock might induce resistance in bacteria and somehow compromise the efficacy of antibiotics used in humans,” he said.

“However, there is absolutely no evidence – not one single reported confirmed case – where the use of antibiotics in livestock has contributed to the development of antibacterial resistance in humans leading to treatment failure.

“On the whole, the antibiotics used for the treatment or prevention of bacterial diseases in livestock are distinct from those used in human medicine, as are the bacteria themselves. The risks you face due to antibiotic failure can be attributed to the misuse of antibiotics in humans and the development of resistance in humans.”

IAN J. LEAN

BVSc (Syd), PhD (Calif), MACVSc

Dr Ian Lean is a leading authority in the medicine, nutrition and management of dairy cattle. He is responsible for the nutrition of one tenth of the Australian dairy herd, with a production of one million litres of milk each day.

A graduate of the University of Sydney (1979), he spent six years as a large animal veterinarian in the Hunter Valley of NSW before undertaking his PhD at the University of California, USA.

Between 1986 and 1996, Dr Lean lectured in clinical nutrition and cattle medicine at the University of California and then the University of Sydney, where he remains an Adjunct Professor in Veterinary Clinical Studies.

At various times throughout the 1990s, he served as the senior examiner in Cattle Medicine and in Ruminant Nutrition for the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists, and as president of the Australian Association of Cattle Veterinarians and the Cattle Chapter of the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists.

Dr Lean is now a director of Strategic Bovine Services, a company that conducts research on behalf of the public sectors, industry organisations and animal health companies in Australia, New Zealand and the USA.

Based at Camden, NSW, the company also conducts private research focused on the interaction between nutrition, health and reproduction in the dairy cow. Dr Lean also operates a rapidly-growing feed company, Cows-R-Us, whose nutritional products are marketed throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Dr Lean is the author of than 200 scientific articles, many of which have been published in internationally-renowned journals, as well as the university text, Nutrition of Dairy Cattle. He has appeared as a guest speaker at major conferences in Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, UK, Argentina and South Africa.

Professor Ian Lean's reaction to the new report on International Antibiotic Research is here.

The full (337 page) report on International Antibiotic Research is available here.

Ian Lean's address to the Avcare Conference

Antibiotics - balancing the Media Concern.

A note to journalists about the use of Professor Ian Lean as a spokesperson.

You can find out more about Ian Lean on his corporate pages.

The recent release from McDonalds is here.

McDonald's antibiotic policy is here.

Our client Elanco's views are here.

This is the Fact Sheet on the subject from Food Standards Australia and New Zealand.