This may be a struggle, but the world’s largest consumer of antibiotics is trying to persuade its farmers to change their lifestyle

Last modified on Tuesday, July 17, 2018 05.24 EDT

On the hills of Fuzhou, surrounded by acres of rustling bamboo, it is a small farm that is creating something truly unusual in China. In Fujian Province, they abandoned industrialized agriculture in favor of natural methods.

After working in the field of industrialized agriculture for many years, Mr. Sun (a pseudonym-he requested to remain anonymous) hopes to create a "respect for nature and respect for life" space to raise animals.

He dreams of producing high-quality organic crops — honey, eggs, pork, geese, chicken, and fish — and creating a platform where people can share knowledge and ideas about natural agricultural practices. The farm occupies only 120 acres and is run by agricultural students, avoiding the use of antibiotics, and getting enough exercise for pigs and chickens.

Part of Mr. Sun’s inspiration came from his deep concern about the ever-increasing amounts of antibiotics and growth hormones in animals raised on farms in China. "In the last century people decided that they didn't want fat, they wanted lean meat, so factories started producing ractopamine to make animals muscular," he told the Guardian. "Then it was banned, and they stopped. Consumers do influence [decisions] in the factory."

At present, China is the world's largest consumer of agricultural antibiotics, even eight tons higher than the United States. A 2013 study by the Chinese Academy of Sciences found that China consumes 162,000 tons of antibiotics each year, 52% of which is used in animal husbandry. In the United States, 70% of the 10,000 tons of antibiotics each year are consumed by livestock.

On another very different farm nearby, Mr. Zhang (a pseudonym) uses more typical intensive farming methods to raise pork on a large scale. Animals are kept in indoor enclosures closer, and eat and drink from factory-made meals. There are 4,000 pigs at the scene, and the air in the pig house is suffocating.

Zhang's farm is part of a chain of stores specializing in "ecological agriculture" and is proud of its environmentally friendly methods of raising, slaughtering and processing meat. On its website, it promises "safe, healthy and delicious" and a "customer first" approach. "Here, no matter whether the pig is sick or not, we will use antibiotics twice in the pig's life. Once from the nursery and once after they reach adulthood. We try to avoid adding antibiotics to the feed, but many farmers do this. , It's very common," he said.

Zhang estimates that the average cost of raising a lean pig to adulthood is about 1,200 yuan (£140), of which the cost of medicine accounts for 2-10% of the total cost. We learned from the veterinarian that the antibiotics used by other local farmers include amoxicillin, tilmicosin, and florfenicol, which are added to feed, and chloramphenicol is used to treat ear and eye infections in humans. Was injected. Chlortetracycline and cephalosporins, which are used to treat skin diseases in pigs and humans, are also used.

"Everyone uses antibiotics now. Profit is the driving force of the whole thing. The use of antibiotics is a preventive measure to prevent pig losses. A 15% mortality rate is considered acceptable. But there are some superbugs that cannot be stopped. For farmers Said they are reducing the risk," he explained.

However, with the rise in antimicrobial resistance, global alarms about the prescription of antibiotics on farms have sounded. More and more bacteria are resistant to some of our most important antibiotics and now expose humans to serious and previously curable diseases. The extensive use of antibiotics on farms is considered an important factor in the rapid growth of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

In fact, in 2014, scientists discovered a bacteria resistant to colistin (a so-called "last batch" of drugs). Microbiologist Tim Walsh and one of the authors of the report described the discovery as the "Holy Grail Moment" in the field of science. The discussion led to the Chinese government's rapid ban on the use of the drug in agriculture.

"The forecast predicts that by 2030, the world's largest poultry producing countries will be China and India. Understanding what we know now requires a radical change in the way we manage our food systems on a global scale," Walsh said.

In 2015, the School of Public Health of Fudan University tested the urine of 1,000 8-11 year-old school children in Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and found that at least one antibiotic was found in 60% of the samples, and two were found in 25% of the samples.

It detected drugs, such as tylosin and enrofloxacin, which are only licensed for use in farmed animals. The study found evidence that exposure to antibiotics in childhood can triple the risk of obesity.

For many years, Chinese farmers can buy and use antibiotics without any prescription.

"The Chinese government is shortening the list of antibiotics approved for use in animals," said Zhou Wanqing, a partner at Brighter Green, an environmental NGO. "However, farmers can obtain and use antibiotics without a prescription. This has been and still is the case."

The Chinese government is now trying to crack down on medications for healthy farm animals (a practice known as allergic reactions). After all, China has many stakes. It currently produces half of the world’s pork, and the farming of chicken and beef is also increasing, albeit at a slower rate. In order to feed the people and give them access to cheap meat already enjoyed by the West, it adopted the industrialized agricultural model pioneered by the United States.

The government has pledged to resolve AMR. It is one of the 192 signatories of the United Nations "One Health" agenda. The former Ministry of Agriculture put forward three recommendations to solve this problem: phase out certain types of antibiotics that are essential for human treatment; strengthen supervision to ensure that certain drugs are only legal by prescription; and improve the monitoring of drug use.

Greenpeace Asia stated that this was not enough and called for an immediate ban on the use of drugs that are vital to humans and a phasing out of the use of antibiotics as growth hormones (which have been banned in many countries).

It advocates the promotion of alternative methods to promote animal health, such as free range breeding and the use of natural herbs and medicines to treat diseases.

But persuading farmers to stop using antibiotics that are heavily promoted by pharmaceutical companies is not easy. “The government is aware of the public health risks and is working to gradually reduce the use of antibiotics in the livestock industry,” Wan Qing said. “However, given the large number of medium-sized livestock farms, law enforcement will remain extremely challenging, and any progress is expected. In. It happened quite slowly."

"Although certain growth hormones have been banned, farmers continue to use them. When they come to check their account books, they will hide it from the inspection authorities," Zhang said.

On his small piece of green, Sun believes that the government will solve this problem quickly, but it is very realistic for the future. "The government is paying close attention to this situation. They need to let farmers know about the dangers of overdose. They need to provide examples. They have opened training courses and posted posters and created new certifications. Implementation and monitoring will be the biggest challenges."

"Knowing the truth is very important to consumers. I am optimistic. This [investigating the farmland around him] is not the final solution. This is my personal utopia."

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