3 January 2022 – On 28 January 2022, rules restricting the use of veterinary antimicrobials began to be applied across the European Union (EU). This will outlaw the routine use of antibiotics and limit preventative use to exceptional treatments of individual animals.

Intensive farming is reliant on the routine use of antibiotics which are often administered to groups of animals in their feed or water, even if many of the animals show no signs of sickness. Stressed animals are kept in unhygienic and cramped conditions without fresh air and sunlight, the same precursors to zoonotic outbreaks that can cause pandemics. Antibiotics are also administered to curtail illnesses in animals stemming from cruel practices such as early weaning.

The Veterinary Medicinal Products Regulation imposes new restrictions for the use of antibiotics in the farming sector and prohibits antibiotic use for the purpose of compensating for poor hygiene, inadequate animal husbandry, lack of care, or poor farm management.

Accounting for 70 percent of global use, the inappropriate use of antibiotics by the livestock industry is driving the global health crisis of Antimicrobial Resistance.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has a direct impact on human and animal health. It is estimated that AMR is responsible for approximately 33,000 deaths per year in the EU and costs the EU Member States €1.5 billion per year in healthcare costs and productivity losses.

FOUR PAWS, together with veterinary and legal experts, has created a guidance document to support decision-makers in implementing the necessary measures for improving animal welfare on European farms in order to reduce the use of antibiotics, tackle AMR, and align with the new EU regulations. One element worth keeping in mind is that all efforts put into improving husbandry build towards preparing for the revision of the animal welfare legislation announced by the European Commission.