An antibiotic pressure group has raised serious concerns over plans to build one of the UK’s biggest pig farms in Limavady in Northern Ireland.
Around 3,000 letters of objection and petitions with 14,000 signatures have been posted to the council.
The Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics said the plans for a farm producing 60,000 pigs per year are being "fiercely opposed" by local farmers and residents.
The group is raising concern on the grounds that there will be "significant risks" of antibiotic-resistant pathogens spreading from the farm to local residents.
The group said that large intensive pig farms are "frequently contaminated" by many antibiotic-resistant pathogens such as Salmonella, E. coli, Campylobacter, enterococci and MRSA or Clostridium difficile.
Some studies have found evidence that some bacteria can spread environmentally from the farms, which the alliance says can "endanger local communities".
'Increased risk'
The Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics said several strains of livestock-associated MRSA are now present in Northern Irish pig farms, and stated that there is "growing evidence" from Europe and the United States that MRSA can spread from pig farms via aerosols or when pig slurry is applied to local fields.
The group said that several studies have found living in proximity to intensive pig farms or to fields where pig slurry was applied is associated with increased risk of being infected by MRSA.
But the National Pig Association (NPA) said the public should not be worried.
Chief executive Zoe Davies said: “LA-MRSA has not been deemed high risk by the government, and is not the same as hospital associated MRSA, so the public should not be worried. Hospital surveillance has picked up very few cases and none that are associated with people working directly with livestock.
“I also want to stress that the link made between antibiotic usage on farms and the prevalance of bugs like LA-MRSA is not as simplistic as is made out in features like this. For example, Denmark has already significantly reduced antibiotic usage but LA-MSRA levels remain high.”
“However, we know LA-MRSA is here in the UK and, as a proactive industry we have worked with government to provide guidance for those working with pigs to reduce risk even further.”
Suzi Shingler, campaign manager of the antibiotic alliance, said: “Intensively farmed pigs receive by far the highest quantities of antibiotics in UK farming, and we know this leads to lots of different types of resistant bacteria that can transfer to humans.
“This is often on food, but there is also increasing evidence that it can occur through the environment. The huge size of this pig farm will mean that this health threat to local residents will be magnified.”
