Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) and European Commission to ban direct antibiotic advertising to farmers

The VMD has supported the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics and brought in regulations to ban direct advertising of antibiotics to farmers. Regulations will be brought into effect from the end of 2013, though the Alliance is calling for an immediate ban.

The UK is the only EU country that allows antibiotics to be advertised to farmers. The practice has been called ‘dangerous’ and propagates inappropriate prescriptions and broader resistance to antibiotics.

Lowering antibiotic use is a key issue faced by the One Health Initiative, a scheme that seeks to unite veterinary, human and industrial medicine against growing problems such as antibiotic resistance.