UK livestock industry facing new guidelines for 'critically important antibiotics'
19th May 2017 / By Alistair Driver
The UK livestock industry is being asked to reduce use of certain categories of antibiotics deemed to be 'critically important', under new guidelines adopted by the Responsible Use of Animal Medicines (RUMA) alliance.
This decision means tthe UK farming industry should be aiming to reduce use of fluoroquinolones, 3rd and 4th generation cephalosporins, and colistin, and only be using these antibiotics where no other product will be effective for the condition being treated.
RUMA has officially adopted the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA’s) list of highest priority ‘critically important antibiotics’ (CIAs), identified because of degree of risk to human health should antimicrobial resistance develop after use in animals.
These antibiotic groups will be be one of the key elements of focus for RUMA’s ‘Targets Task Force' which is due to report goals for reducing antibiotic use in each livestock sector in October this year.
The Task Force will also set wider sector specific antibiotic reduction targets with the National Pig Association and the Pig Veterinary Society set to submit a proposal for the pig industry in early June.
For more on this story, see Pig World
To read more about the NPA's role in setting new antibiotic targets, click here
To read PVS president Mark White's forthright views on the antibiotic targets, click here