Antibiotics study boosts case for ban

Date: 03/06/1999

By Simon Taylor

THE EU's hopes of winning a legal battle over its ban on the use of certain antibiotics in animal feed have been boosted by calls from scientists for such products to be phased out.

A report by a team of independent scientists published this week recommended that medicines which are used to treat human and animal diseases should not be permitted in animal feed.

A senior official at the European Commission, which first proposed the ban, said that the report by the EU Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) was "right in line" with the Union's decision to ban the use of four antibiotic products in animal feed last December.

EU farm ministers' decision to restrict the items was aimed at tackling growing difficulties in treating infections such as pneumonia, tuberculosis or salmonella with common drugs, because of increasing resistance to them in humans.

Two US-based pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Alpharma have challenged the EU's ban on two of the products, zinc bacitracin and virginiamycin, arguing that there is insufficient scientific evidence of a link between antibiotic feed use and resistance in humans to warrant a ban.

The firms presented their evidence at a hearing of the European Court of Justice in April, but the Luxembourg-based judges are not expected to deliver their verdict on the case before the end of this month.

The scientific committee, which is tasked with giving the EU objective advice on food safety and health-related issues, has recommended phasing out the use of antibiotics as feed additives in cases where they are also used in human or veterinary medicine.

But its report acknowledges that more than half of all anti-biotics are used to treat human diseases. The scientists said there should be a campaign to reduce the unnecessary use of these drugs, including tighter controls on their sale combined with an information campaign targeted at doctors and farmers to make them more aware of the problem.

The Commission will use the recommendations contained in the committee's report as the basis for proposals to counter antibiotic resistance.