Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment the Government has made of the public health danger posed by the use of antibiotics for agricultural purposes.

Representatives from Defra sit on the European Medicines Agency’s ad hoc Antimicrobial Expert Group (AMEG). The group is comprised of experts on human and animal health.

In 2013, AMEG assessed the risk posed to human health by the use of antibiotics in veterinary medicine. Their assessment was revised in 2016 following the discovery of bacteria resistant to colistin, a last resort antibiotic in human medicine. They recommended that colistin was classified as a critically important antibiotic to human health and called for a reduction of its use in veterinary medicine.

AMEG will continue to assess emerging evidence and bring recommendations where necessary.