Any further 'unsubstantiated' restrictions in antibiotic use beyond those agreed under new antibiotic targets announced recently could make the problem worse, according to the pig industry.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced a recommendation that farmers across the world stop using antibiotics routinely.
WHO said it "strongly recommends" an overall reduction in the use of all classes of medically important antibiotics in food-producing animals, including "complete restriction of these antibiotics for growth promotion and disease prevention without diagnosis".
"Where possible, sick animals should be tested to determine the most effective and prudent antibiotic to treat their specific infection," WHO said in a statement.
"Antibiotics used in animals should be selected from those WHO has listed as being 'least important' to human health, and not from those classified as 'highest priority critically important'. These antibiotics are often the last line, or one of limited treatments, available to treat serious bacterial infections in humans."
However, the National Pig Association said further "unsubstantiated" restriction of antibiotics could lead to reliance on too few antibiotic classes.
NPA senior policy advisor Georgina Crayford said: "The NPA is concerned that further unsubstantiated restriction of antibiotics available to the agricultural sector could lead to reliance on too few antibiotic classes and may increase the rate at which resistance could occur."
The NPA said it acknowledges the relatively high historic usage of antibiotics but is highlighting the impressive efforts across the industry to cut usage since 2015 and the ‘bold and ambitious’ targets set out on October 27.
In the NPA’s response to the recent targets, chief executive Zoe Davies said: “It is true that, historically, the pig industry has been a relatively high user. There are many reasons for that, including the specific disease challenges the UK industry faces and a long period of poor prices for pork which prevented much needed reinvestment on farms.”
