Large Amounts Of Antibiotics

For humanity, antibiotics are a huge blessing. Antibiotics have saved millions of lives from bacterial infections. However, there is growing concern that these bacteria will become resistant to the drugs we use against them.

When we think about antimicrobial resistance, we often focus on what drugs humans take. We might not even consider the use of antibiotics in livestock, but they also pose a threat.

In fact, much more antibiotics are given to livestock than to humans. Researchers previously estimated that, in the 2010s, around 70% of antibiotics used globally were given to farm animals..1 While there hasn’t been an update of these figures in the last few years, it’s likely that more antibiotics are still used in livestock than humans.

Overusing antibiotics in livestock increases the risk of disease in animals and humans in several ways. First, antibiotics are often used as a cheap substitute for basic animal welfare practices, such as giving animals enough space, keeping their living environments clean, and ensuring that barns are well-ventilated.2 A failure to maintain hygienic conditions on farms increases the risk of disease for both livestock and humans.

The overuse of antibiotics can also increase the risk of bacteria that are resistant to treatment. That threatens the health of the animals but can also be a risk for humans for crossover diseases — diseases that also occur in humans, and we can treat with antibiotics. Finally, humans can be exposed to resistant pathogens by eating contaminated meat and dairy products.

To reduce the risks of antibiotic resistance, we don’t have to only consider the use of antibiotics in humans but also how to use them more effectively in the meat and dairy sector.

We know that this can be done: there are clear success stories of countries that have done so while maintaining healthy and productive meat and dairy industries.

In this article, we look at antibiotic use in livestock worldwide and what can be done to reduce it.