U-turn fear for UK's antibiotic progress amid US trade deal

The warning came following a 97 per cent vote in European Parliament for new legislation which would implement the ban in three years’ time but, given the Government’s intention to keep EU regulatory burdens in the sector to a minimum, a post-Brexit scenario could see the UK adopting ’light-touch regulation’ on farm antibiotics.

This was according to Coilin Nunan of the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics, who warned the UK could end up with some of the weakest regulatory standards in Europe, ’which raises questions about the kinds of trade deals we will be seeking with non-EU countries like the US, China and Australia, which have much higher levels of antibiotics’.

“It may in the end reverse the progress that has been made by British farmers in cutting their own antibiotic use,” he said.

The UK Government said it supported the legislation, but has repeatedly refused to endorse any ban on group prevention in the UK, instead suggesting it would work with stakeholders to agree how to implement the regulation in practice.