Farm animals must be dosed with various medications to survive. The use of veterinary antibiotics is increasing worldwide. What are the consequences of this? ---- Denmark is one of the largest pig farmers in Europe, and considering the size of the country, both in terms of population and territory, it is certainly the country with the highest pig density. The average number of pigs per farm is 5,900 - the highest in Europe. By comparison, in Poland - also a large pork producer - there are only about 200 per farm. This is an average herd density, as, of course, both in Denmark and in our country there are large pig farms housing tens of thousands of pigs.
A few years ago, I followed a YouTube channel run by a Ukrainian employee working on a pig farm in Denmark. He described the operation of such a farm, which - if I remember correctly - housed around 1,500 pigs. On such farms, reducing animal mortality is a key issue. This stems from several fundamental causes. First, there is the intensification of animal husbandry, which means an emphasis on the meat yield of fattening pigs (to gain weight as quickly as possible) and an emphasis on the reproductive performance of sows (to give birth as often and to the largest possible number of piglets). This intensification essentially ruins animal health. Furthermore, the relatively high mortality rate is caused by excessive stocking density, as well as excessive stress of various origins and poor hygiene. Figuratively speaking, pigsty rooms are usually filthy with animal feces. Added to this are, for example, poor air quality and, finally, a fundamental issue - a lack of consideration for welfare requirements appropriate to the needs of the animals' species[1]. Pigs raised in such conditions are highly susceptible to various pathogens, inflammations, and injuries. Their immune systems are compromised. To reduce mortality, pigs are administered various preventative medications, including antibiotics in large quantities.
Metaphylaxis - what is it?
Theoretically, in Europe, antibiotics cannot be administered to animals either as growth promoters (which was the norm several decades ago and is still permitted in many countries outside our continent) or preventively, but only for therapeutic purposes. But this is only theoretical. According to the Ukrainian worker, medications are systematically administered in the drinking water of all animals.
Theoretically, preventative use of antibiotics in healthy animals is inappropriate, but so-called metaphylactic use of drugs is permitted. Although attempts are made to emphasize that this type of drug administration is not preventative and must be justified therapeutically, these are just words. How is this actually done? Based on observations and the herd's serological profile and tests, the veterinarian tries to predict whether a recurring infection will occur in the herd. And such infections appear very frequently at a given stage of production. In such cases, medications (including antibiotics) are simply administered "in advance" to all animals, regardless of their individual health status. The veterinarian is essentially "legalizing" this.
For example, in one of the 2023 issues of "Zycie Weterynaryjne," I found a description (advertisement) of a drug called Lismal. It is an antibiotic used for metaphylactic treatment of pigs. The drug description also states: "Healthy pigs may experience diarrhea, loose stools, and/or inflammation of the perianal area at the beginning of treatment." In Europe, as many as 86% of antibiotics used in livestock farming are administered this way (i.e., in groups)[2].
Moreover, the belief in the mass and excessive use of antibiotics is frequently expressed in the professional literature. They are used - based on body weight - twice as often in animals as in humans. In the May 2024 issue, the editor-in-chief of "Zycie Weterynaryjne" wrote about the need to curb the "excessive, often preventative, use of antibiotics in animal production"[3].
Veterinary Antibiotics in Poland
How does this relate to Poland? Poland is a country where veterinary drugs are used extensively. Of the 31 countries monitored by the European Medicines Agency, only Cyprus and Spain (data for 2024) use more veterinary antibiotics. Consumption of veterinary antibiotics in Poland is nearly twice that of European Union countries, measured in terms of production volume, of course.
Why is this so important? Firstly, for animal welfare reasons; in factory farming, animals are deliberately stuffed with various substances to keep them alive at all costs, until they ultimately end up in slaughterhouses and the meat never reaches store shelves. This applies not only to pigs, but also to chickens and even cattle.
Secondly, residues of antibiotics and other antimicrobial drugs reach humans not only in food products (primarily meat) but also through other routes. Antibiotics are found in feces and other waste products released from factory farms. Liquid manure and manure are used as fertilizer. Drugs can also enter surface waters, being carried by insects and dust particles, etc.
Antibiotic Resistance Epidemic
The overuse of antibiotics is making it increasingly difficult to treat people with them, as strains of various bacteria become resistant to them. In 2017 and 2018, data was published indicating that approximately 700,000 people die worldwide annually due to antibiotic resistance. It is estimated that this number could rise to 10 million by 2050[4].
Although it is reported that antibiotic resistance worldwide is primarily related to healthcare[5], in some cases, mass animal farming is becoming increasingly significant in this regard. For example, Staphylococcus aureus is a bacterium whose reservoir is animals and humans. This pathogen also contaminates food products[6]. Due to its increasing resistance to penicillin, the development of methicillin improved the situation, but not for long - strains of bacteria also resistant to methicillin emerged. Furthermore, it turned out that the main source of staphylococcal infections in this case is no longer the hospital environment, but rather farms. For example, in Denmark, in 2010, 16% of pigs carried methicillin-resistant staphylococci, but by 2016, this percentage had increased to 88%[7]. Other studies have found that the prevalence rate among pig farm workers ranges from 24% to 86% in Europe, 25% to 45% in North America, and 6% to 19% in Asia[8].
The European Union has announced that it aims to halve the use of veterinary antibiotics by 2030, but this is unlikely to translate into a similar reduction in antibiotic resistance. Why? In Denmark, veterinary antibiotics are used almost five times less frequently than in Poland. However, symptomatically, the lion's share of piglets from Danish sows are exported to other countries (including Poland), where local restrictions on antimicrobial drugs are more liberal and drug use is higher. Denmark exports 18 million live piglets, a large portion of which reach Poland.
If restrictions on the use of veterinary antibiotics reach Poland, Ukraine could be the next country to mass-fatten Danish piglets, or South American countries (Mercosur) could become the center of global pig farming. Of course, an alternative would be to reduce and deconcentrate animal husbandry and improve animal welfare, which usually leads to a reduction in the need for any livestock medication. However, dispersed, extensive farming on pastures and paddocks, where animals can function in accordance with their original predispositions, is currently a rarity. Meat companies will not easily give up the profits they derive from concentrated industrial farming.
Jaroslaw Urbanski
www.rozbrat.org
Footnotes:
[1]See: Aneta Lewandowska, "What connects the reduction of antibiotic use and animal welfare?", www.topagrar.pl, dated January 30, 2023, https://www.topagrar.pl/articles/zdrowie-swin/co-laczy-redukcje-zuzycia-antybiotykow-i-dobrostan-zwierzat-2455034 (accessed May 25, 2024); Zygmunt Pejsak, Kazimierz Tarasiuk, "Rules of conduct limiting the use of antibiotics in pig farming," Zycie Weterynaryjne 4/2023.
[2]"Antibiotic Overuse in Livestock Farming," Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics, https://www.saveourantibiotics.org/the-issue/antibiotic-overuse-in-livestock-farming (accessed May 29, 2024).
[3]Antoni Schollenberger, "From the Editors," Zycie Weterynaryjne 5/2024.
[4]In this regard, some sources cite WHO data, others OECD; see also: "Assessing the health burden of infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the EU/EEA, 2016-2020," European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Stockholm, November 2022.
[5]"Data on antimicrobial resistance (AMR): use of antibiotics in the EU decreases but more needs to be done," https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_6951 (accessed May 26, 2024).
[6]Magdalena Podkowik et al., "Staphylococcus aureus resistant to ?-lactams - mechanisms of resistance, occurrence in slaughter animals," Zycie Weterynaryjne 3/2013.
[7]Anna Kozajda, "Large-scale industrial animal farms as a source of microbiological contamination", conference: "The future of Polish agriculture. Current problems and development prospects", Warsaw, September 26, 2019, Anna Kozajda, "Emission of zoonotic bacteria from animal farms to the environment - current state of knowledge", conference: "Polish countryside in the shadow of large farms: threats, strategies, forecasts", webinar on March 8, 2021.
[8]Chen Chen, Felicia Wu, "Livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA) colonisation and infection among livestock workers and veterinarians: a systematic review and meta- analysis", Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2021, 78.
https://federacja-anarchistyczna.pl/2026/02/02/antybiotyki-i-swinie/
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Link: (en) Poland, FA: Antibiotics and Pigs (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]
Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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