Doesn Europe ban the use of antimicrobials?
The European Union does not have a ban on the use of antimicrobials – they have bans on the use of antimicrobials for the purpose of growth promotion. Sweden banned all growth promotants in 1986. Denmark instituted antimicrobial-specific bans in 1995 and 1998, and the country completed the ban of all growth promotants in 2001. The Netherlands banned growth promotants in 2006, and the European Union banned one growth promoting antimicrobial in 1997 and others in 1999. The European Union utilizes the same definitions of antibiotic use as the AVMA and FDA (see “How are antimicrobials used in animals?” question), and disallows growth promotion, which they consider a “non-therapeutic” use of antibiotics. The other uses of antibiotics – prevention, control and treatment – remain, with greater flexibility for the veterinarian to determine doses than what the FDA allows of veterinarians in the U.S.
