TTIP and Antimicrobial Resistance

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is one of the greatest threats to public health. Margeret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization has warned, “A post-antibiotic era means, in effect, an end to modern medicine as we know it. Things as common as strep throat or a child’s scratched knee could once again kill.”

The dependency of current intensive livestock production systems on antibiotics is a priority issue for civil society movements on both sides of the Atlantic. Campaigns for prudent use of antibiotics in the livestock sector in both the EU and USA seek to provide solutions to this urgent challenge. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership threatens progress made in reducing AMR and promotes even more intensive livestock systems. The U.S. and the EU need to strengthen standards that prevent the use of antibiotics in the food system.

Presenters include:

Steven Roach is the food safety program director of Food Animal Concerns Trust. His current work focuses on the human health impacts on animal agriculture including antimicrobial resistance. He has represented Consumers International as a delegate at various CODEX Committee meetings critical for international antibiotics standards.

Richard Young is the policy director of the Sustainable Food Trust. Much of his current work focuses on various aspects of “true cost accounting” for agricultural externalities, including the cost of antibiotic overuse on farms.

Shefali Sharma is director of IATP's Agricultural Commodities and Globalization Initiatives. For the last 18 years her work has focused on international trade, food and agricultural policies, agriculture and climate change, accountability of international development banks and the implications of these issues for social justice.

Moderation: Robert Pederson ARC2020. ARC2020 includes over 150 civil society organizations working on issues affected by the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).