Scientists urge less use of germ-killing agents as resistance to drugs increases

An important EU scientific group has warned of "increasing health threats" caused by the improper use of antibiotics and germ-killing agents.

Misuse of these chemicals was leading to resistant strains of illness-causing organisms and the group called for immediate action by governments to control the use of these substances.

"The current absence of clear causal links between amounts of antimicrobials used and the development of resistance should not be taken as an excuse for avoiding urgent action," according to the Scientific Steering Committee.

The group is made up of 16 independent senior European scientists and it adopted its position on microbials late last week.

The scientists urged action on an EU-wide and preferably a global basis.

They asked for new tighter controls on the sale, supply and distribution of antimicrobials and for the development of guidelines for their use.

Antimicrobials is a general term that includes any agent that can kill bacteria. It includes antibiotics, but also a wide selection of chemicals used to sterilise surfaces and agents added to animal foodstuffs to retard bacterial growths in these processed foods.

"Micro-organisms are increasingly becoming resistant to existing antimicrobials, including antibiotics. Of further concern is the fact that no truly novel antibacterials have been introduced in the last decade, leading to increasing difficulties in the treatment of infectious diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis or salmonellosis," the experts warned. "Governments and all users of antimicrobials should urgently address these problems."

The committee called for the phasing out of the use of antimicrobials as "growth promoters" in animal production. The group also considered the use of "antibiotic resistance marker genes" in genetically modified foods.

These are used to confirm that a gene has been moved successfully into a modified plant. The fear is that the marker gene could be taken up by a microbe, in turn making it resistant to antibiotics.

While there was currently "no evidence" that these marker genes could be inadvertently transferred into micro-organisms, the scientists urged caution, recommending that the marker genes be removed from plant cells before commercialisation "whenever this is feasible.

"The use of marker genes which might confer resistance against clinically important antibiotics should be avoided in future GMO-plant development," the scientists added.

The EU Commission is already monitoring bacterial resistance to feed additives but is introducing a system to monitor consumption of antimicrobial agents in these products, to take effect from January next year.

It is also planning an international scientific conference on antimicrobial resistance, in Brussels on July 20th.