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THE FOOD SAFETY Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has warned that germs resistant to drugs are being passed to humans through animals, which could have a serious impact on people’s health.
Urgent controls should be put in place to reduce the number of animals that are being given antibiotics and other medicines, the authority has cautioned.
The warning is based on the findings of a scientific report published today by the FSAI which looks at the transmission of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the food chain.
AMR is the ability of microbes (germs) to resist the effects of antimicrobial drugs (like antibiotics).
While the report notes that cooking meat thoroughly and following proper food safety guidelines greatly reduces the risk of consuming resistant bacteria, it says that proper measures need to be taken to reduce the rise of AMR in the first place.
Proper measures
The rise of AMR is recognised worldwide as one of the greatest potential threats to human and animal health. The European Centre for Disease Control estimates that resistant bacteria are responsible for 25,000 deaths a year in the EU.
While the report makes no direct connection between the levels of AMR in humans and the use of antibiotics and other drugs on animals, it states that action is needed in the animal sector to combat the growing problem.
The report notes that the use of antibiotics and other medicines in animals during food production needs to be reduced.
There is intense use of antimicrobials in at least some sectors of primary food production in Ireland, and there is scope to reduce use.”
Dr Pamela Byrne, Chief Executive of the FSAI said that the transfer of resistant bacteria through the food chain was an issue that needed to be addressed.
“This is an issue that needs to be addressed urgently as part of a cross-sector approach,” said Dr Byrne.
“Otherwise levels of AMR will continue to rise and it will become increasingly difficult and expensive to control and treat infections in medical care and more difficult to maintain animal health and welfare.”
Effective action
The report puts forward a number of recommendations in order to tackle the rise of AMR, among them improving surveillance systems along the food chain and preventing infection on farms so that drugs won’t have to be used.
If effective action isn’t taken, the authors conclude, the situation is expected to get worse.
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And yet our insurance premiums continue to rise….
@The Bunk: excellent point.
But we have a government that doesn’t want to interfere in the “free” market.
Free to rip the face off consumers, that is.
@Franklin Roosevelt: this government had no problem fiddling with the market when it came to introducing rent controls.
@The Bunk:
I despair of the stupidity and lack of education of the scribes who pollute these columns. This clown doesn’t seem to understand the level of awards are set by the courts not the insurance companies. The number of accidents are down to the drivers. These two factors determine the level of premiums.
@Donal Hanley: Not all accidents are down to the drivers, poor road conditions ,very poor signage also not nearly enough traffic cops all add to the accident levels.
@Martin Ryan: At an activity rate this equates to 0.0000158%. Such small microscopic statistics (unwonted as they are) are more likely to ebb n flow to the Fibonacci scale of mathematical chance. To think we have some kind of Devine intervention at this level is pure nonsense.
The only reason I was able to drive after losing a loved one was to get a grasp of how unbelievably remote such instances are.. otherwise i’d be a wreck.
@Franklin Roosevelt: What does a car cost to buy and to insure in the socialist paradise of Venezuela? You don’t see many new cars in Cuba, that other favourite of the looney left.
@The Bunk: Doesn’t mean there are less accidents, just less people dying in accidents
GREAT news story to start the year.
158 people to have died on the roads is still WAY TOO HIGH though.
let’s hope @ work towards an even better & safer year on the roads in 2018
@Frank Dubogovik: I doubt it can be reduced much further given the tens of millions of road trips per week. Good news though
@Misanthrope: of course it can,
@Misanthrope: that and the “sure it’ll be grand” attitude of some people after a drink or two.
@Misanthrope: 14 cyclists were killed last year, a huge increase on the previous year. These deaths were mostly preventable. I do think it’s possible to get the numbers down even more.
@Dermot Lane: should always be aiming for zero deaths for sure.
@Dave O Keeffe: You’re making it sound like drink driving is the sole excuse for car crashes, have you seen drivers even fail to indicate properly on a roundabout? Driving up someones arse, that’s another one. Speeding like a complete phucking lunatic, that’s another one. People driving big engined cars that they can barely control, that’s another one. The driving is shite in this country, you only have to look at the parking for Christ’s sake.
A victory for rules and regulations.
And well done to all the careful drivers out there, keep it up!
@Hey There Lovely!: ok, let’s return to 1950′s regulations.
Drink driving is cool, no seatbelts – that’ll be a fun experiment.
The guards will be busy with late night house calls.
@Franklin Roosevelt: let’s not forget to thank the men and women of AGS, obviously doing a lot more work in the area of Road Safety then the media would like to admit.
Still too many?Drove around cork from limerick to bantry and couldnt believe the quality of the roads a bloody disgrace we need to upgrade our roads but we also need to maintain them this government doing all this advertising about the great atlantic drive!they may want to drive it at some stage your taking your life in your hands.
Yet the number of cyclist deaths increased
@Kal Ipers: yes, and by just over 50% increase compared to 2016.
Better quality of roads helped too
@Kevin Moylan:
Are these the “true” figures?
Recent government agency stats have made me sceptical.
Driving standards are going through the floor. It’s dog eat dog out there and getting worse. So much hate on the roads these days.
No word fromt the self appointed Conor Faughnan… Thats odd…
@James O’Brien: he who just states the bleedin obvious and makes a living from it
@mcgoo: Missed my point ..
And highest cyclists deaths..
And yet the highest number of cyclist deaths
7 deaths in Kerry in 2016, 8 in 2017. Didn’t fall here.
@An Observer: hardly surprising considering the Healy-Rae driving “laws” in place there…
@Vic’s Burd: and the fact that it’s easier in Kerry to escape penalty points or a conviction if you make a donation to the court poor box
Statistical variance is probably a large part of why it went up in 2016, and down so much in 2017.
@Lionel Nashe: True, this is just Reversion to the Mean – statistical figures like this vary over time, and if you keep slicing them up every 365 days or so, some groupings of figures will be higher/lower than others. When they go up, we are told it is our fault, and when they go down, we are told that the RSA/Gardai are doing a great job, but the bigger picture is that most accidents are due to lack of attention at the wrong moment – if you’ve had these experiences like these regularly:
-ended up in the wrong lane
-forgot to indicate
-had to suddenly correct your steering trajectory
-got beeped at/given out to, by another road user
-realised your lights weren’t on
- Then sort out your driving, because it might be you who causes an accident in 2018, and the Authorities are not interested in changing overall driving standards, only in speed-measurements and statistics, because they are the things that are easy to measure, but it doesn’t mean that they’re the most important things…
The changes made in 2011 are working with great effect. No need for new legislation. Sir Rossalots persecution of L drivers alcohol bill and no limits must be stopped.
That is good news for all of us One road death is one to many. On the front of Insurance claims the quotes should fall by a lot the investigations into insurance cartel in beefing up premiums are now watching I hope hikes is a thing of the past.
Now sort out the antiquated drink driving legislation and we might finally get somewhere with road safety.
Numbers could be reduced further if some of our hard earned tax went to gritting more roads.
@Gerry McNally: Resurfacing, even.
Yet still drink driving is seen as a bigger problem than mental health and the homeless
It’s a long way from 1972 with 640 deaths but still too high !
One death is one death too many.
With the highest number of cars ever on the road, this is surprising news. Like to know what the ratio of cars on the road to deaths year on year since 1959…
The gardai are hardly taking credit for this are they?
@John Dman: don’t see them mentioned at all in the article….
Yes… another victory for oppressively expensive road tax, insurance, the likelihood of n.c.t. failure, fuel tax and endless bloody regulations continually moving (and lowering) the goal posts/windows of opportunity closer together. Of course people are dropping like flies due to hospital waiting lists, substance abuse, poor physical and mental health – suicide even. But a civilised society couldn’t be admitting to any of that could it? So we’ll wave the reduction in road deaths banner for all we’re worth.
All these statements are shite.. road deaths are inevitable.. however terrible it sounds.. nobody cares really.. I drove from Belfast to cork recently using my speed limiter in the car.. just to keep on the right side of the speed limit.. cars were passing me like I was stopped.. I’m surprised there are not more casualties.
@OCallaghan TP: Stop worrying about numbers – exceeding an arbitrary (and usually poorly-chosen) speed limit doesn’t instantly make things totally dangerous any more than driving just under it keeps you totally safe. Inappropriate speed (which can often occur when under the speed limit) and lack of attention/a road plan are the real killers.
@Tom Burke:
Ireland currently allows abortions,Tom. Stop kidding yourself!
As a liberal first world country, why shouldn’t those services be provided in our own country, and what is the rationale for continuing to deny such fundamental human right to the women of Ireland, who in law, should have total jurisdiction over their own bodies?
Repealing the Eight Amendment, combined with more effective sex education will greatly assist the social development of this country.
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