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Brussels, 6 November 1998
Call to the European Council, the European Parliament, European Commission,and Economic and Social Committee
Re: Request for a ban on the use of antibiotics as additives in feedingstuffs for breeding animals
Dear Sir/Madam,
Euro Coop (European Community of Consumer Co-operatives), CPE (European Farmers Co-ordination), EPHA (European Public Health Alliance), EuroGroup for Animal Welfare (animal protection) and EEB (European Environmental Bureau) are launching an appeal to the European institutions to ban the systematic use of antibiotics in feedingstuffs for breeding animals.
The different sectors that we represent are concerned about the risks for human and animal health which arise from the systematic use of antibiotics as additives in feedingstuffs for breeding animals, both for preventive purposes and as growth promoters. Such practices seriously threaten the main value of antibiotics, precious and indispensable medicine in the treatment of human and animal illnesses. One of the primary concerns is the increasing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics in human and animal medical treatment. The recent death of a Danish woman poisoned by antibiotic resistant salmonella in pork has confirmed these concerns.
Scientific and medical professionals are also concerned. The World Health Organisation, during a meeting in Berlin on 17 October 1997, recommended that countries reduce the use of antibiotics in animal breeding. Doctors, veterinarians and researchers from 30 countries met in Copenhagen on 9-10 September 1998, to urge the European Union to set up a surveillance system for bacteria resistant to antibiotics and to adopt measures for the promotion of a prudent and moderate use of antibiotics.
The Swedish and Finnish governments have banned the use of certain antibiotics as additives in feedingstuffs for several years. We insist that the European Union allow those two countries to uphold their ban and extend it to the entire European Union. Other governments are taking action. During the Agriculture Council meeting of 19-20 October, the Netherlands, Finland, Germany and Luxembourg supported a Danish proposal to ban the use of antibiotics as growth promoters in feedingstuffs.
The Dutch Council of Health has recommended that antibiotics should no longer be authorised as growth promoters in feedingstuffs.
Certain European institutions have also acknowledged the problem of the increasing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics. On 9 September 1998, the Economic and Social Committee clearly noted that resistance to antibiotics constitutes a growing threat to public health. The European Parliament, in a Resolution of 15 May 1998, notably called on the Commission to seriously analyse the effects of the use of antibiotics in feedingstuffs in human health, with particular attention to the experience of those Member States which have banned certain antibiotics.
We wholeheartedly support these initiatives and consider that it is crucial today to take into account the precautionary principle and quickly ban the use of antibiotics in feedingstuffs.
This practice is linked to the intensive and industrialised meat production where a large concentration of animals in a restricted space considerably increases the risks of infection. We recall that there are other methods of production, which respect the welfare of animals and the environment, and that do not require the use of antibiotics as additives.
To conclude we want to emphasise citizens' rights to health and food security, and their growing concern for more information, transparency and responsibility in food production.
Euro Coop, CPE, EPHA, EuroGroup for Animal Welfare and EEB invite European citizens and their organisations to support their call for the ban on antibiotics in feedingstuffs for breeding animals.
In coordination with
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