Veterinary public health assignment

Veterinary public health assignment

Critical evaluation of the Soil Association Report “E.coli superbugs on farms and food”

 

The soil Association produced the report “E.coli superbugs on farms and food” in 2012 (See report on Moodle site). In the report is a summary of eight recommendations (see Page 3) and an executive summary of the report (see Pages 10-17) including recommendations to the Government, Retailers, farming and veterinary industries (Pages 18 and 19).

 

Considering this report and any other additional relevant literature you can find, please address the following questions based on the Summary recommendations on page 3 in the report.

 

Answer the questions in bullet point format. Maximum word limit is 1,500 words.

 

1) Under the current UK regulatory system for farm antibiotic use what steps does;

1. i) a veterinary surgeon have to take when prescribing an antimicrobial for an animal; ii) a farmer have to take when treating an animal?

 

2) The report states “It should be recognized that a move towards higher welfare and less intensive production systems has the potential to reduce the use of antibiotics in agriculture significantly”.

 

What evidence can you find that less intensive production systems equate to higher welfare systems? (Give evidence as a maximum of 3 bullet points including a reference for each of your statements).

 

3) The report states “The preventative use of antibiotics in healthy animals should be phased out, and the overall use of antibiotics on farms should be halved within five years.”

 

If this were to become an EU policy, list four points you would need to consider in the implementation of this policy.

 

4) The report states “The use of modern cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones

should be greatly reduced and their off-label use prohibited”.

 

1. i) List three reasons why cephalosporins and fluoroquinlones are widely used in veterinary practice (give evidence for your reason).
2. ii) Propose one way you would suggest that might limit the use of these products.

 

5) The report states “…Advertisements to veterinary surgeons should be purely factual and not emotive in any way.”

 

Find one example of an advertisement for an antimicrobial product to veterinary surgeons or farmers that you think is emotive and one that is not, giving your interpretation of each advertisement.

 

6) Many dairy farmers feed waste milk to their calves. (Waste milk is milk from cows that are being treated with antimicrobial products). It is suggested this is a risk factor for increasing spread of antimicrobial resistance. Can you suggest how you might enforce a ban on this practice?

 

7) This report was produced by the Soil Association – why might they write such a report?

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