International Poultry Council to Work on Comprehensive Antibiotic Resistance Report
GLOBAL - The International Poultry Council (IPC) pledged recently that the global poultry industry will move toward a coordinated effort do its part to address antibiotic resistance in animal agriculture.
26 October 2016
3 minute read
By: At the IPC’s second semester conference in Estoril, Portugal, delegates representing the poultry industries in more than 20 countries spent much of their time discussing the issue of antimicrobial resistance and agreed to issue a comprehensive report in the next several months.
“The International Poultry Council shares the public’s concern about antibiotic resistance, which is an issue of global significance,” said IPC President Jim Sumner, president of the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council. “IPC recognises the need for collaborative efforts among governmental organisations, non-governmental organisations and the poultry sector to minimise the development and transfer of antibiotic resistance.”
During the Portugal conference, IPC members discussed their obligation to ensure that animals in their care are free from disease and as healthy as possible.
Mr Sumner said that the veterinary use of antibiotics and other interventions are effective and necessary tools to keep birds healthy. “It’s important that our industry maintain access to these forms of treatment, to ensure that they are used responsibly under veterinary supervision, and only when necessary,” he said. “Responsible use of antibiotics when treating not only poultry but all livestock is critical to minimise agriculture’s potential contribution to antibiotic resistance.”
Members of the IPC’s Working Group on Antimicrobial Resistance will continue working on the comprehensive report into antimicrobial resistance in the coming months, said IPC Secretary General Marilia Rangel Campos. “We have a strong core of dedicated members who will continue to review the related research and global concerns on the issue in order to develop a document that contains specific recommendations on a path forward for the global poultry industry,” she said.
Rangel, Sumner, and other IPC representatives met this week in Paris with Dr Monique Eliot, the new director general of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) to reaffirm the IPC’s commitment to responsible use of antibiotics.
