Indian Advocacy body seeks ban on Anti-Biotics in Poultry…

NDIA – New Delhi-based research and advocacy think-tank, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), is seeking a ban on antibiotic growth promoters in the poultry industry and other measures following the publication of a report into antibiotic residues found in Indian chicken meat.

In its report ‘Antibiotics in Chicken: From farm to fork’ conducted by CSE’s Pollution Monitoring Laboratory (PML) , CSE said that Indians are emerging with resistance to antibiotics and, hence, falling victim to a host of otherwise curable ailments. Some of this conflict might be due to large-scale unregulated use of antibiotics in the poultry industry.

“Antibiotics are no more limited to humans nor limited to treating diseases. The poultry industry uses antibiotics as a growth promoter. Chickens are given antibiotics so that they gain weight and grow faster”, CSE said while releasing the findings of the study.

The report said that CSE lab study found residues of antibiotics in 40% of the chicken samples that were tested. Chicken isIndia’s one of the most popular ingredients for non-vegetarian foods.

The report also said that chicken meat production is an industrial process and is no longer a backyard activity. The poultry industry ofIndiais worth more than US$20 billion, and the market for chicken meat is growing at a pace of 10% for over a decade and 3.5 million tonnes of chicken meat produced in 2013.

Andhra Pradesh is the leading chicken meat producer with 500,000 tonnes in 2012-13.

Haryana has registered with the highest growth rate of over 12% in the last 5 years and is just short of being at the third position. With 340,000 tonnes in 2012-13, Haryana produces about 10% of chicken meat inIndia. It is a key supplier toDelhiand the National Capital Region (NCR).

“The government has no data on the use of antibiotics in the country. Our study proves the extensive use and also shows that this can be strongly linked to growing antibiotic resistance in humans in India,”