New European rules could restrict the use of the antibiotic colistin on farms, it was announced yesterday.
The rules will call for strict national targets for reducing colistin use – and says the maximum level should be 5mg per population correction unit.
The European Medicines Agency has drawn up the proposed rules for the European Commission after the discovery of new resistance genes finding their way into colistin.
The mcr-1 gene can jump between bacteria and was first detected in South China but has now been found in Europe.
The EMA says colistin should be reclassified so it is only used for treating infections in animals for which there are no effective alternatives.
Meanwhile UK Prime Minister David Cameron is to tell a summit of world leaders that tackling antimicrobial resistance was a priority for him.
Speaking to the G7 summit in Japan, he is to promise "tough" new targets for reducing overuse of antibiotics by 2020.
His announcement comes after GPs successfully reduced antibiotic prescribing last year by 7% following a national campaign.
He will say that the NHS will be ordered to reduce antibiotic prescriptions by 2.1 million a year. He will argue that 10% of the 42 million prescriptions issued annually in England are inappropriate.
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