Massive projected increase in use of antimicrobials in animals by 2030.

Massive projected increase in use of antimicrobials in animals by 2030. The amount of antimicrobials given to animals destined for human consumption is expected to rise by a staggering 52 percent and reach 200,000 tons by 2030 unless policies are implemented to limit their use, according to new research. 

 The researchers, from ETH Zürich, Princeton, and the University of Cambridge, conducted the first global assessment of different intervention policies that could help limit the projected increase of antimicrobial use in food production. 

Their results, reported in the journal Science, represent an alarming revision from already pessimistic estimates made in 2010, pushed up mostly by recent reports of high antimicrobial use in animals in China. In modern animal farming, large quantities of antimicrobials are used for disease prevention and for growth promotion. 

"Globally, animals receive almost three times as many antibiotics than people, although much of this use is not medically necessary, and many new strains of antibiotic-resistant infections are now common in people after originating in our livestock," said co-author Emma Glennon, a Gates Scholar and PhD student at Cambridge's Department of Veterinary Medicine.Massive projected increase in use of antimicrobials in animals by 2030.