The Alberta cattle industry is hoping to shed light on the controversial issue of antibiotic resistance with a study to be released soon.
Faced with increasing suggestions that there is a link between antibiotic resistance in bacteria and the use of antibiotics in animals raised for meat, the Canada Alberta Beef Industry Development Fund allocated almost $1 million to a two-year research project.
The report is expected to finish in November and then be sent for peer review. It is expected to be released to the public within three months, said Gary Sargent, general manager of the Alberta Cattle Commission.
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“It seemed to be a big question for the animal industry,” said Sargent, about the need for the study.
In an initial News release
news, Dr. Ronald Read, a University of Calgary Faculty of Medicine assistant professor leading the study, said the connection had to be checked.
“With increasing frequency, the use of antimicrobials in livestock production is being speculatively linked to the emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Currently, however, the objective evidence linking the emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria in humans with the use of antibiotics in livestock is circumstantial, and the true risk of creating and spreading resistance is unknown.”
Kee Jim, a veterinarian with Feedlot Health Services, a company that provides veterinary services to many large Alberta feedlots, said resistance has been a long, ongoing debate, but there is no conclusive evidence.
“The so-called link doesn’t stand up to intensive scrutiny. Most reports are flawed in design and interpretation,” said Jim, who has examined previous reports that show a link between antibiotics in livestock and antibiotic resistance in bacteria.
“The links are never as direct as the title.”
Antibiotics are used in the livestock industry to control diseases, improve growth and reduce feed intake.
During an Ontario Ministry of Agriculture symposium on agriculture’s role in managing antimicrobial resistance, Otto Radostits, with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan, wrote:
“While there is a connection between human and animal ecosystems and while it is possible and even plausible for the transfer of bacteria to occur and cause disease in humans, the incidence is considered extremely insignificant.”
Studies in the past 30 years have examined this suggested link and have concluded that the cause-and-effect relationship can neither be proved nor disproved, he wrote.
“In fact, there is overwhelming evidence that food-borne illness is a major problem because of unhygienic handling and inadequate cooking of meat and poultry.”
Jean Szkotnicki, president of the Canadian Animal Health Institute, said there are no reliable statistics on the amount of antibiotics used in food animals.
During meat and hygiene residual test reports, there is a “high degree of compliance” of producers using antibiotics properly, she said.
Szkotnicki said in Denmark, where the preventative use of antibiotics was eliminated, the use of antibiotics increased because of a higher need for the drugs for treatment.
