Will the world’s addiction to industrial livestock production bring an end to the age of the “miracle drug?”

by Larry Powell - *Hog Watch Manitoba 

(Note: Asterisks link to references at bottom.)

A pork processing plant in Neepawa, MB. Photo credit - HyLifeFoods.

Antibiotics have been bestowing a world of good on the human condition ever since Alexander Fleming discovered the most famous one - penicillin - almost a century ago. Thanks to their ability to counter deadly infections, millions of lives have been saved -  truly a turning point in the history of mankind.

But, for some years now, clouds have been gathering. Numerous agencies, from the **World Health Organization (WHO) to our own ***Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), have been sounding similar alarm bells. All the wondrous benefits inherent in these life-saving medications may already be in jeopardy. 

As PHAC states on its website, “There’s increasing evidence that the use of antimicrobial agents in veterinary medicine and livestock production is an important contributing factor in the emergence of bacteria in people which have grown resistant to these medications.” 

It’s officially called “antimicrobial resistance,” or AMR. And it’s getting worse. Overuse spurs the growth of “superbugs,” which can then be transferred to people who eat the treated meat. As a result, fewer and fewer of the best drugs we can throw at them, are working, even on infections once considered routine. 

Almost eighty percent of antibiotics sold in Canada are being given to livestock. And livestock in this country have, for some time, outnumbered people by about twenty-to-one. 

One estimate from the UN’s  ****Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) states - agriculture, globally - could be using more than 240,000 tonnes, yearly. (Due to spotty data collection, it’s a rough estimate, only.)

Photo credit - FAO.

*****The O’ Neill report commissioned by the UK government in 2014, predicted that, by 2050, AMR will claim ten million lives a year, more than cancer itself. As the Prime Minister at the time, David Cameron, stated flatly, “If we fail to act, we are looking at an almost unthinkable scenario where antibiotics no longer work and we are cast back into the dark ages of medicine"

And, as if we needed more convincing, here’s how the WHO puts it. 

“If AMR isn’t contained, medical procedures such as caesarean sections, hip replacements, cancer chemotherapy, organ transplantation, malaria and tuberculosis and even childbirth will become increasingly risky.” 

What about Canada?

In a peer-reviewed study just over a year ago, ******the Council of Canadian Academies revealed - more than five thousand Canadians had already died as a direct result of AMR in 2018. Twenty-six percent of infections then, were already resistant. And if that number rises to 40% by 2015 (considered “highly plausible”), so, too will the death toll - to almost 400 thousand.

Hog Watch, therefore wants to know, why were hog producers on the Prairies (Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba) actually feeding more antibiotics to their herds in 2018 than they were the year before? (Latest figs. available.) 

And how were their counterparts in the east (ON & PQ), able to feed less over that same period?

This information is confirmed in the 2018 annual report of *******“CIPARS,” an obscure federal surveillance program.  

Here’s what the WHO recommends in this regard. 

“Simply stop giving animals such medications altogether, whether to promote growth or prevent disease. Healthy animals should only be treated if disease is diagnosed elsewhere in the same herd. And, even while treating animals already sick, only medications not considered critical for the treatment of human infections, should be used.”

Despite all this, producers across Canada were still giving nineteen different antibiotics, considered important in the treatment of human infections, to their herds. And they weren’t given just to treat diseases after an outbreak, but to prevent disease and promote growth (to make their animals grow faster), too.  

While feeding more in 2018, there was no significant difference in the amount of antibiotics those prairie producers injected into their herds from the year before. 

However, one of those injectibles, ceftiofur, is of particular concern. Even though it isn’t given to people, just animals, it’s still listed as “very highly important.” That’s because it could well be transferring harmful resistance to other drugs in its class which are critical as human medications.

These are called “third-generation cephalosporins.” They’re considered medications of “last resort” in the treatment of ailments such as gonorrhoea. Yet, they’re already beginning to fail in several countries. The incidence of this sexually-transmitted disease has grown rapidly in Canada in recent years, reaching nearly 30,000 cases in 2017. This has raised fears that, one day soon, gonorrhoea will become incurable.

The poultry sector sets an example.

In 2014, chicken and turkey producers in Canada voluntarily stopped using drugs of most importance in treating human infections on their flocks. CIPARS reports, except for a small increase in BC, “This appears to be reducing antimicrobial resistance.” 

On the other hand, some “isolates” (bacterial samples) taken from sick pigs “showed resistance to all seven classes of antimicrobials tested.”

Could the dominant method of producing livestock here and around the world actually contribute to the problem?

Here’s what the then Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Margaret Chan had to say in a major address on this topic some seven years ago.

“The industrialization of food production is an especially worrisome trend. Confined animal feeding operations are not farms any more. They’re protein factories with multiple hazards for health and the environment. These hazards come from the crowding of large numbers of animals in very small spaces, the stressful conditions that promote disease, the large quantities of dangerous waste, the need for frequent human contact with the animals.” 

(Hog Watch MB supports group housing for breeding sows and straw-based housing for all pigs.)

And, because there’s already evidence that resistance may be spreading through livestock waste, we’re also calling for the phaseout, over the next decade, of all liquid hog manure applications on food crops as a fertilizer.

Missing from the equation - Transparency and accountability 

About six weeks ago,  Hog Watch MB emailed ******Manitoba Pork, the organization representing the hog industry in this province, for input into these issues. At this writing, it hasn’t responded. 

This is consistent with a culture of secrecy which has prevailed inside this very large and controversial industry for years. 

According to CIPARS, here’s how the hog industry provides it with data on antibiotic usage. “To preserve the anonymity of participating producers, herd veterinarians collected the samples and data and submitted coded information to PHAC. In the case of corporate herds, confidentiality was ensured through a single corporate herd code for all corporate veterinarians, thus preventing a corporate veterinarian from being associated with a specific herd and protecting anonymity.” 

Will this culture of secrecy help or hinder efforts to bring overuse under control?

Since Dec. 2018, it has actually been an infraction under the Food and Drug Act, for producers to give medically-important drugs to their herds, without a prescription from a veterinarian. It’s not believed any violations have been reported, so far.

On the face of it, this would appear to offer the industry plenty of "wiggle room." It is, after all, far from an outright ban.

All of this, we believe, presents a golden opportunity for the Pallister Government to assure Manitobans that usage in this province isn’t still heading in the wrong direction. 

While there’s still a place for antibiotic use in agriculture, it must surely be done in ways that are more responsible and transparent than this.   

We challenge this Government - Prove that you can be more than just a cheerleader for industry and be a responsible and transparent regulator, instead.

This is an important health issue. And health, after all is a provincial responsibility.

REFERENCES

*What is Hog Watch Manitoba?

Hog Watch Manitoba is a non-profit coalition of environmentalists, farmers, friends of animals, social justice advocates, trade unions and scientists. We are promoting a hog industry in Manitoba that is ethically, environmentally and economically sustainable.

**World Health Organization - “Stop using antibiotics in healthy animals!”

***Public Health Agency of Canada.

****Food & Agriculture Organizaton

*****The O’Neill Report

******The Council of Canadian Academies - “When Antibiotics Fail.”

*******The Canadian Integrated Program for Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance (CIPARS), keeps track of trends in antibiotic usage and the degree to which resistances are developing. Run by the Public Health Agency of Canada, it also works to make sure that these medications, many critical to the health of both animals and humans, are preserved.

********EMAIL TO MANITOBA PORK

INPUT REQUESTED

Yahoo/

Sent

Larry Powell <planetwatch1@yahoo.ca>

To:

info@manitobapork.com

Wed., Jan. 6 at 7:36 p.m.

Dear Manitoba Pork,

I'm attaching a story now published on my blog. I would invite your input. 

Why did antibiotic use in your industry increase in the time span mentioned?

What has happened with such usage in your industry since 2018?

Do you accept the concerns of medical experts over antibiotic use in livestock?

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Larry Powell

SHOAL LAKE, MB

Please visit: Planet in Peril - where science gets respect. 

AMR MB HOGS

.docx

502.4kB

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DESPITE LONG-STANDING AND WIDESPREAD WARNINGS OF THE DANGERS, HOG PRODUCERS ON THE CANADIAN PRAIRIES WERE STILL FEEDING MORE ANTIBIOTICS TO THEIR PIGS IN 2018 THAN THEY DID THE YEAR BEFORE. (LATEST FIGS. AVAILABLE.)

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Science Media Centre of Canada (SMCC) condemns Alberta's efforts to discredit climate journalists.

 S M C C

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney. Runs a "war room" at taxpayers expense which
spreads false information about environmental groups.

Alberta Inquiry Paid $28K for a Report Smearing Hundreds of Climate Journalists

The Science Media Centre of Canada (SMCC) condemns all attempts by governments and third-party agencies to discredit the work journalists undertake to cover climate change in Canada. 

Numerous journalistic bodies — including the Society of Environmental Journalists — are smeared in a new Government of Alberta-bankrolled report.

It's called,  "A New Global Paradigm: Understanding the Transnational Progressive Movement, the Energy Transition and the Great Transformation Strangling Alberta’s Petroleum Industry." 

This report was produced as part of the provincial government’s $3.5 million inquiry into international opposition to Alberta’s oilsands.

The report argues that journalists are part of a “disturbing” movement to “coordinate and effectively distribute propagandized climate change issues in their reporting.” According to Vice News, the report’s author was paid $28,000 by the Alberta government. 

The report was written by energy researcher Tammy Nemeth who. according to the CBC, is currently a home-school teacher in England.

The SMCC rejects this conspiratorial mischaracterization of the work undertaken by Canadian climate journalists. 

The report criticizes Canadian outlets including Maclean’s, TVO, and the Toronto Star for covering climate change issues. Similarly, CBC, The Globe and Mail and The National Post are criticized for reprinting stories about climate change from wire services. As an issue of considerable public interest, the SMCC encourages Canadian media outlets to continue covering climate change. 

Thank you.

- Jim Handman, Executive Director

Despite long-standing and widespread warnings of the dangers, hog producers on the Canadian prairies were still feeding more antibiotics to their pigs in 2018 than they did the year before. (Latest figures available.)

by Larry Powell

(Updated - Mar. 5th, 2021)

A Canadian Pork Council photo.

In 2019, an elite panel of experts - The Council of Canadian Academies -  confirmed that thousands of Canadians were already dying each year of "antimicrobial resistance (AMR)." And, with that resistance still growing, up to 400 thousand will likely die of it by mid-century. It calls the problem, “a serious existential threat.” 

And, if anyone needs more convincing, here's how Canada's own Chief Public Health Officer puts it. 

"Left unchecked, there's risk of losing these medications as an essential life-saving treatment. It's estimated that antibiotic-resistant infections could cause 10 million deaths a year, globally by 2050. This is more than the current annual worldwide deaths from cancer."

AMR happens when too many antibiotics are given (when they're not needed), not only to people, but mostly to livestock (domestic animals raised for food), like cattle, pigs and poultry. (Almost 80% of antibiotics in Canada are used by the livestock sector.) 

Producers use them, not only to fight disease in their herds and flocks, but to prevent disease and even promote growth (make their animals grow faster). (See chart, below.)

This has led to the development of "superbugs," in people who eat, not just the contaminated pork, but beef, poultry and eggs, as well. These are bacteria which have grown resistant or downright immune to the drugs which were once effective in treating them.

If more action isn't taken, it appears, the end result will be chilling. Health authorities predict, many human illnesses, including pneumonia, tuberculosis and syphilis, could become incurable.

A report released recently, is revealing.

In its latest 2018 annual report, the federal surveillance group, *CIPARS, states;  total quantities of antibiotics distributed for sale in Canadian livestock, increased about five percent over the previous year. 

Yet total usage across the country, actually went down. (This is apparently due to a lag time between distribution and use.)

The green line shows antibiotics fed to hogs on the Prairies.
(All charts & graphs by CIPARS.)

In Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, however, it was a different story. While inoculating less, producers fed more of these drugs to their herds in 2018 than the year before. 

Over that same period, producers in Ontario and Quebec, by contrast, actually fed"significantly less." 

It's not just how much - but what kind that matters, too!

Producers across the country, administered nineteen different antibiotics, considered important in the treatment of human infections, to their herds in 2018. 

Among the most concerning seems to be ceftiofur. (See graph, below.) It's only used to treat animals, not humans. But, it's feared it could still pass resistance on to another very similar drug in the same class which is a human medication. For that reason, it falls into the category of "very high importance" for treating serious human infections. Few, if any alternatives to this class of drugs are available if they don't work. 

The pink line is ceptiofur. After its usage declined sharply in 2017,
it was trending upward again.

Hog producers across the country (see chart, below), were still using antimicrobials more to prevent disease and promote growth than for actual treatment.

These practises run counter to pleas from groups including the World Health Organization. Sixteen years ago, the WHO saw the need to warn the world about the "human health consequences" of AMR. And it  issued guidelines on how to reduce unnecessary use.

Since then, some rules have been put in place in Canada. Since December of 2018, it has been illegal to give medically-important drugs to livestock without a prescription from a vet. Failing to do so would be an infraction under the Food and Drug Act. It's not believed there have been any prosecutions, so far. And it's too early to say whether the new rules have led to a reduction in use.

And the industry group representing hog producers nationally, the Canadian Pork Council, "strictly prohibits" its members from using drugs of highest importance in human medications, just to prevent disease or to promote growth. 

Has the poultry sector set an example for others?

In 2014, Canada's poultry growers actually stopped giving drugs classified as being "very highly important" in human medicine, to their flocks. And, according to CIPARS, "This appears to reduce antimicrobial resistance in most scenarios." But the initiative was taken voluntarily by the poultry sector and does not apply to hogs.

CIPARS expects it'll be releasing its 2019 report soon. It also promises to streamline its operations in order to release its findings in a more timely manner.

*What is CIPARS? 

By legislation, the Canadian Integrated Program for Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance keeps track of trends in antibiotic usage and the degree to which resistances are developing. Run by the Public Health Agency of Canada, it also works to make sure that these medications, many critical to the health of both animals and humans, are preserved. It is independent of Health Canada.

Below is an email I sent to the group representing the hog industry in this province, asking for their input into my story. They have not responded.  l.p.

INPUT REQUESTED

Yahoo/Sent

• 

  Larry Powell <planetwatch1@yahoo.ca>

  To:info@manitobapork.com

  Wed., Jan. 6 at 7:36 p.m.

  Dear Manitoba Pork,

  
  

  I'm attaching a story now published on my blog. I would invite your input. 

  • Why did antibiotic use in your industry increase in the time span mentioned?
  • What has happened with such usage in your industry since 2018?
  • Do you accept the concerns of medical experts over antibiotic use in livestock?

  Thank you.

  
  

  Sincerely,

  Larry Powell

  SHOAL LAKE, MB

  Please visit: Planet in Peril - where science gets respect. 

  
  

  • AMR MB HOGS.docx

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Oceanic sharks and rays have declined by over 70%

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"Great Hammerhead Shark Swimming" by Skylar L. Primm

The number of oceanic sharks and rays worldwide has fallen by 71% since 1970. A study in Nature this week finds that more than three-quarters of these oceanic species are now threatened with extinction.

The risk of extinction to marine species is primarily caused by overfishing, but it has been difficult to measure the decline of individual species. Although reductions in oceanic and coastal shark and ray populations in different regions of the world have previously been documented, a global analysis has not been available.

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The Woodland Caribou. Photo by Steve Forrest.

 

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Part of the Solution? Or part of the Problem? The Government of Manitoba fails in its sacred duty to protect our precious waterways

 by John Fefchak - PinP guest-writer.

        

Lake Winnipeg, clogged with toxic algae. Nutrients from human and animal waste (including large commercial hog operations) pollute the tenth largest freshwater lake in the world.

More than twenty years ago, I, along with many others, became aware of how Lake Winnipeg and other Manitoba waters were becoming polluted. Our government was ignoring the dire situation; and pressing on with the expansion of Intensive livestock (hog) Operations (ILO's).  Our concerns over the massive amounts of manure being created, were ignored. Despite evidence being presented in the media, including a major TV documentary, "Choking Lake Winnipeg," we were called fear-mongers. 

Still, we didn't give up.

Eventually, there was a glimmer of hope. In 2007, Manitoba's Clean Environment Commission released a ground-breaking report, recognizing a problem with the environmental sustainability of hog production.  

The Lake Winnipeg Act was established and stringent regulations were enacted. Progress to help save Lake Winnipeg seemed achievable. The potential was inspiring.

However, over time, governments change. And the positive steps taken then became a "hindrance." So they were trashed. "The Red Tape Reduction and Government Efficiency Act" was introduced - a process to allow the wheels to be "greased," so that many more factory hog barns could be built. (And they are.)

A decades-old map showing hog-barn locations in Manitoba. How many are enough?

So often we hear the outcry for economic development and associated employment, but there are no concerns expressed for environment and our water sources.  

Overwhelming scientific evidence proves our present economic system is rapidly destroying our planet's ability to sustain life. 

Yet, too many of our politicians turn away from science to favour of the same systems of development that have brought us to the brink of this cataclysmic situation. If we forge ahead in total selective ignorance, then we're guilty in the destruction of Earth's life-sustaining gifts. 

For without water,....there is no economy.....without water...there is nothing!

So, as I re-watch the ten-year-old documentary, I have concluded that the waters of Lake Winnipeg are more polluted than before, and one of the main reasons, is government who, instead of being part of the solution, has sadly become a huge part of the problem. 

JF.✈️

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