Friday 28 August 2015

EMA consults on antibiotics and farm animals


The European Medicines Agency is currently running an important public consultation on how best to assess the risks of antimicrobial resistance passing from food animals to human. The consultation is open until 31st August.

Draft guidelines have been prepared which are designed to help regulators assess the risks associated with individual antimicrobials when they are licensed or their licenses are reviewed.

There are several associated concerns, as previously reported. These include risks to human health (some of the antibiotics used on farm animals could cause harm.) A second reason is that the use of such antibiotics unnecessary promotes antibiotic resistance among certain types of bacteria, especially given that the administration cannot be securely controlled in relation to the external environment.

A third concern is that farm workers can become exposed to antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria, especially via the nose, and that these can be taken by the farm workers home to the their families.

The consultation is based around a draft paper "Guideline on the assessment of the risk to public health from antimicrobial resistance due to the use of an antimicrobial veterinary medicinal product in food producing animals."

Posted by Tim Sandle

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