Plan to slash antibiotic use in livestock aimed at human “super bugs”

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(Cody MacKay/ CBC News) — P.E.I.’s provincial veterinarian is urging people in the agriculture sector to learn more about some changes coming to antibiotic use in livestock.

Starting Dec. 1, 2018, hundreds of over-the-counter antibiotics will require a prescription from a veterinarian, something Dr. Carolyn Sanford said may require a shift for some in the agriculture industry.

The changes are brought forward through a national plan led by federal Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Lawrence MacAulay to significantly cut back on antibiotics being pumped into animals.

Sanford said the overuse of antibiotics in animals can cause “antimicrobial resistance” where microbes begin resisting treatments and can lead diseases or “super bugs” that may end up in humans.

“We need to make sure that when we get sick and when we go to the hospital or go to the doctor that the antibiotics or other antimicrobials that are prescribed to us are actually going to work against whatever’s making us ill,” she said. (…)

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