Your report (The Sunday Times of Malta, November 1) on unregulated antibiotic use in local farm animals is disconcerting.
It has been recognised for some time worldwide that many individuals were acquiring antibiotic resistant bacteria from the community and not from hospitals and that the source was probably farm animals, including chickens. Dr Michael Borg has devoted several years to educating hospital staff on how to reduce the risks of spreading these serious antibiotic-resistant infections in hospital, and the University’s pharmacy department pushed for more education on the perils of unnecessary antibiotic use and for more stringent rules on antibiotic purchasing in pharmacies.
The claim that local farmers may have unrestricted and uneducated access to antibiotics at pet shops must therefore come as a bit of a shock to the whole establishment.
One is bound to wonder what happened to supposedly European standards of Maltese food safety. Have they been in place? Have we had spot checks on antibiotic content in Maltese milk and meat products?
European opponents of the transatlantic trade negotiations denigrate claimed lower American standards, then the Volkswagen diesel pollution testing episode in the US exposed the unbelievably low European testing standards.