Misuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture

That this House draws attention to the routine use of antibiotics on healthy farm animals in the UK and around the world in order to compensate for diseases, stress and injuries sustained while being held in sub-standard, overcrowded or confined farming conditions; highlights the potential for antibiotic resistance out of the overuse and misuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture and the formation of antibiotic resistance genes and bacteria which can pass antibiotic resistance across generations and between species; notes with concern the easy transmission of that resistance into human food chains and the possibility that such resistance could lead to widespread diseases through both human and animal populations around the world if it is not addressed; and calls on the Government to act on the recommendations of the 2018 Health and Social Care Committee report on Antimicrobial resistance and to take stronger action against such overuse given the WHO’s recommendation against the use of antibiotics as a way of preventing disease in healthy animals.