What we ingest can alternatively sustain us or cause sickness. Not long ago, I discussed how food consumption influences the likelihood of colorectal cancer. But what about agricultural practices?
Globally, we are witnessing the expansion of cheap meat, largely fueled by demand from a expanding affluent population that finally has the means to purchase beef, pork and chicken, which were once unaffordable. Roughly 45% of global consumption growth is taking place in upper-middle-income countries such as India, China, Brazil, the Philippines and Indonesia. Chicken is expected to capture an increasingly large share of that expansion, estimated to grow by 21% by 2034, since it is relatively cheap, widely acceptable and requires less input per kilogram compared with red meat. By 2034, it is estimated that poultry will supply 45% of the dietary protein consumed from all meat sources.
But this comes with costs. With limited land and tight schedules, the solution in numerous nations has been to use antibiotics at scale. This isn’t just to treat illness but also as a prophylactic to avoid sickness in crowded conditions. Furthermore, giving antibiotics causes livestock to grow faster, although scientists aren’t sure the precise reason. This situation means that, in contrast to their application in people—where antibiotics are typically prescribed to combat infection—their application in agriculture is far more common and uncontrolled. Research tracking their consumption suggest that 73% of all antibiotics sold worldwide are used in livestock production.
This massive misuse is causing a rise in drug-resistant bacteria. As an illustration, resistance to colistin, a “last-resort antibiotic”, first developed in E coli bacteria that then infected pigs. E coli was later found in pig farmers. Only required are aeroplanes and global travel networks for these microbes to spread globally. Currently, colistin-resistant bacteria have been discovered not only in medical facilities in the Far East but across the world.
How does this impact for someone waiting in a doctor’s office or a hospital in the UK? It signifies that bacterial illnesses that were once simple to cure—such as otitis, urinary tract infections or post-operative infections—become untreatable even after a course of antimicrobials. It implies that operations such as caesarean sections, hip replacements and oncology treatments that rely on immune suppression all become more dangerous. And while new antibiotics are feasible to create, the pipeline is lengthy and expensive. We have to preserve the tools we have.
The solutions to this problem can exclusively come from changing global food production. To be fair, the UK has made significant progress in reducing antimicrobial use in livestock. Distribution of antibiotics for animals reared for food has dropped by 59% since 2014. The use of colistin is now virtually nonexistent. The use of highest-priority antimicrobials has fallen to less than 0.5% of all animal antibiotic sales. And, research by European agencies indicated that after antimicrobial consumption in farming was reduced by almost 50% between 2014 and 2021, antibiotic resistance in E coli across the bloc also started dropping.
But just concentrating on the UK or EU is a minor effort. Unless the large middle-income countries are included in discussions on how meat is produced, we remain just as vulnerable to drug-resistant infections. The challenge is that moving towards different production practices takes more space and time: increasing the cost of animal protein in countries with large populations can rapidly cause social unrest, political backlash and discontent. The health imperative is evident, but this needs to be balanced with considerations of nutritional access, economics and consumer expectations.
Environmental researchers have repeatedly cautioned about the environmental costs of the present worldwide agricultural model, whether it’s methane emissions, species decline, or deforestation. But these consequences often seem distant and theoretical, especially for individuals facing cost-of-living pressures or worried about immediate healthcare access.
Antimicrobial resistance is tangible. Virtually all people has used antimicrobials at some point, and we can envision what would happen if their infection-clearing effect was abruptly lost. Agriculture, medicine and the environment are all interlinked. How pig meat is farmed in China affects whether your child’s antibiotics work in Edinburgh. Whether a female patient in Nigeria survives a caesarean is tied to how chickens are farmed in Brazil.
If we address these pervasive, world-spanning challenges, such as how our food is produced and how we utilize our current medications, we risk losing something precious: the ability to cure bacterial diseases that we take for granted today.
