Farmers asked to stop using antibiotics in feeding animals

The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has cautioned livestock farmers against the use of antibiotics in feeding healthy animals.

The Authority said the practice posed health risks to humans.

Mrs Jennifer Bonnah, Principal Regulatory Officer, FDA, noted that the farmers were adding antibiotics to animal feed to promote growth and warned that the continues usage would make the animals and humans become resistant to the antibiotics.

Mrs Bonnah in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra, said antibiotics were meant for the treatment of diseases, and that it was wrong for the farmers to use them for healthy animals.

“If you suspect that your animals are not well, consult a veterinary health professional, he or she will visit the farm, take a sample and administer the right dosage of antibiotics based on the symptoms just as humans,” she stated.

Mrs Bonnah noted that the over-use and misuse of antibiotics in animals and humans was contributing to the rising threat of antibiotic resistance, stressing, “…The rate at which we are discovering new antibiotics to fight diseases is not the same rate at which organisms are growing resistance to already existing antibiotics”.

She urged the public to get livestock and animal produce from trusted sources and always ensure that they checked the label and details of the products.

Source: GNA