Farmers pump up their use of growth drugs
UK - Farmers have massively increased their reliance on drugs to pump up chicken and pigs despite a Government pledge to curb their use.
There is increasing concern that growth-promoting antibiotics encourage farm bugs to mutate, causing food poisoning in humans that becomes ever harder to treat.
Official figures confirm that from 2002 to 2003 there was a 33 per cent rise in farmers' use of certain antibiotics to bulk up stock, despite a Government promise in 1999 to discourage their use.
19 January 2005
1 minute read
