‘The Spoonful of Milk’ by Marc Chagall, 1912 (via WikiPaintings).

‘. . . It is estimated that about 70% of the world’s antibiotics are fed to farm animals: the precise amount used in agriculture is poorly recorded. But what seems sure — as the number of intensively farmed animals grows — is that their use increases too, particularly in the most intensive sectors: poultry and pigs. Even in countries where the routine feeding of antibiotics is banned (as in the EU) spot checks show considerable misuse.

If we are concerned about the over-use of antibiotics in human medicine then alarm bells should sound louder still when it comes to their use in intensive farming.

‘In factory farms infections spread fast. . . .

’65 billion animals are reared world-wide every year, a number that is predicted to reach 120 billion by 2050. As production increases so does the number of hitherto unknown…