Evening Standard: We are facing a frightening post-antibiotic age, says MP

10 January 2013, by Joe Murphy for The Evening Standard

Britons face a “frightening post-antibiotic age” of diseases running out of control because of factory farming, an MP claimed.

Tory environmentalist Zac Goldsmith forced a House of Commons debate to accuse ministers of ignoring the danger of excessive use of antibiotics on intensive farms

“If we continue to turn a blind eye to the risks of over-using antibiotics, for fear of upsetting vested interest, our Government will be complicit in robbing future generations of one of the great discoveries of our species and propelling us into a truly frightening, post-antibiotic age,” said the Richmond Park MP.

His warning follows evidence that dangerous bugs are increasingly resistant to the medicines used to treat them, leading to huge rises in infections.

Critics of farming claim over-use on cattle and other animals is a key factor, but the Government disagrees.