WE HELP YOU LOOK AND SOUND BETTER
Home
Who We Are
What We Do
What People Say
In the News
Recent Releases
Olivier
Inspiritive
Podcasts
Corporate Podcasts
Podcast Classes
NetCastNow & NetCastFast!
Images & Branding
Corporate pages
Student pages
ZENLP
Contact Us
|
| Healthy animals means healthy food and that means healthy humans, says leading vet. Monday October 14, 2002. The debate about the use of in-feed antibiotics in animal production came into focus in Sydney today at a conference of animal health experts. “There is currently a lot of international attention on this issue, but people have a right not to be misled about the safety of their food. And the media has a duty to present an informed debate,” Professor Ian Lean told the National Association for Crop Production and Animal Health conference in Sydney. “I've just been in the United States, so I know about the level of this debate there. Frankly I believe they're over-reacting to the risks presented by antibiotic use in animal production. Let's not over-react here.” “The great miracle of the last hundred years was not putting a man on the moon, but feeding a far greater population on the planet. Sadly, starvation is still the greatest cause of human death on earth. The achievements in agriculture have gone unrecognized in this current ill-informed debate.” Dr Lean is a leading authority on animal nutrition, author of more than 200 scientific articles, and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Sydney's Vet School. “I've looked at the international research and there's not one single case of treatment failure in humans that can be linked back to the in-feed use of antibiotics for animals.” Some microbiologists who have entered the debate believe that because a potential link between antibiotic use in animals and the development of antibiotic resistance in humans could exist, farmers should cut back their use of these medicines. As a veterinarian, Dr Lean disagrees. “There are many steps in the chain between the use of animal antibiotics and human resistance. In fact there are many breaks in that chain just because something is possible doesn't mean that it happens,” he told the conference. “Some people are making a lot of the fact that two thirds of antibiotics used in Australia go towards animals. But if you look at the comparison, kilo for kilo, humans use at least 100 times the amount of antibiotics that animals do. When you look at the problem of antibiotic resistance we should look at the areas of greatest overuse.” “We have a magnificent track record of prudent use of animal antibiotics in Australia. That's what the Joint Expert Technical Advisory Committee on Antibiotic Resistance committee found when they looked at this issue.” ”We don't hear enough about the care of the regulators that oversee our industry in Australia. The National Registration Authority and the National Health and Medical Research Council are highly responsible bodies,” Dr Lean said. The cost of not using these medicines is often underestimated. “Food costs would go up, and that hurts people in the lower socio-economic groups.” “This issue is about animal welfare, as well as human health. You take away preventive use of these medicines – you get more sick animals. We know from some European experiences that if you stop the use of preventive animal medicines, you get a lot more sick animals, and you have to use a lot more drugs to treat them.” “When it comes to food safety – it's far more important for cooks to know that you shouldn't put other food where uncooked meat has been. You should cook food at hot enough temperatures for long enough to kill any bugs, and your refrigerator should be cold enough to keep food fresh.” “Healthy animals means healthy food and that means healthy people,” Dr Lean concluded. 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. |