Antibiotic sales for farm use increased 1 per cent in 2015

The latest figures released this week by the US Food and Drug Administration show that antibiotic sales for use on farm animals increased by 1 per cent in 2015, as against the previous year and the increase was 2 per cent for antibiotics used as human medicine.

The FDA and other public health agencies had been urging farmers to rely less on these drugs as heavy use of antibiotics both in human medicine and in agriculture had led to the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria, complicating the task of treating many infections.

However, the FDA had some reason for cheer, with the figures, pointing out that the rate of increase had slowed. In the previous year, antibiotic use had increased by 4 per  cent, and a total of 22 per cent from 2009 to 2014.

The poultry industry had targeted the highest cuts in antibiotic use. According to Perdue Farms, 95 percent of its chickens already were raised with no antibiotics at all and Tyson Foods,  the largest producer, had announced that it was "striving" to end the use of antibiotics that also were used in human medicine. 

Tyson would continue to use a class of antibiotics called ionophores, which cannot be used on humans.

Scientists had warned that regular use of antibiotics to promote growth and prevent illness in healthy farm animals contributed to the growth of antibiotic-resistant "superbug" infections, which killed at least 23,000 US citizens each year and posed a significant threat to global health.

"The more we use them anywhere, the less effective they become," said Dr David Wallinga, a physician and senior health officer at the Natural Resources Defense Council, Reuters reported.

According to Matthew Wellington, a field director for advocacy group US PIRG, the increase raised concerns that FDA rules taking effect next year would not curb the use of medically important antibiotics as health experts had hoped.

"It's been a couple of years since those were announced and we're still seeing an increase," said Wellington. "You would imagine that in the year leading up to it you would see some kind of change."