The significance of rational use of drugs in veterinary medicine for food safety

Abstract

Rational use of drugs in veterinary medicine has manifold significance. By using each drug, only when it is really necessary (indicated), in right dose and route of administration, the potential damage of their use is reduced, efficiency increased, and the risk of microorganisms resistance development (in case of antimicrobials) significantly decreased. All of this becomes more important when these drugs are used in food producing animals. Simultaneously with the intensifying of cattle breeding and exceptional increase of animal productivity, the number of used drugs is unavoidably increased. There are almost no animals today in intensive as well as in extensive production/rearing system, which haven't received at least one drug during their life. In poultry, cattle and pig production, which are main sectors for production of food stuffs of animal origin, the use of drugs has increased and reached the limits which are considered alarming for health of people. On the first place are antibiotics, or antimicrobial drugs, which are used very often in therapy or prevention of bacteria diseases, and also, very often, as growth stimulator. In addition to antibiotics, many other drugs are used, with proven numerous harmful effects, even with carcinogenic and teratogenic features, whose residues in food intended for human consumption can very seriously endanger the health of people, as potential consumers of this kind of food. Therefore, the control of use of antimicrobial, and other drugs in livestock production is exceptionally significant.

Racionalna primena lekova u veterinarskoj medicini ima višestruk značaj. Korišćenjem lekova samo kada su stvarno neophodni (indikovani), u pravoj dozi i na pravi način, smanjuje se potencijalna šteta od njihovog korišćenja, a ujedno se povećava delotvornost, i smanjuje rizik od nastanka rezistentnosti mikroorganizama (odnosi se na antimikrobne lekove). Sve navedeno postaje još važnije kada se veterinarski lekovi koriste u lečenju farmskih životinja, odnosno životinja čiji se proizvodi koriste za ishranu ljudi. Istovremeno sa intenziviranjem stočarske proizvodnje i povećanjem produktivnosti životinja, povećava se i broj lekova koji se koriste. Danas ne postoji skoro nijedna životinja, u intenzivnom, kao i ekstenzivnom uzgoju, koja nije primila barem jedan lek tokom svog života. U živinarstvu, govedarstvu i svinjarstvu, kao glavnim sektorima gde se proizvode prehrambeni proizvodi životinjskog porekla, upotreba lekova je dostigla granice koje se mogu smatrati alarmantnim za zdravlje ljudi. Na prvom mestu su antibiotici, ili antimikrobni lekovi, koji se veoma često koriste u terapiji ili prevenciji bakterijskih bolesti, a ne tako retko i kao promotori rasta. Osim antibiotika, koriste se i mnogi drugi lekovi, koji imaju dokazano štetno dejstvo, pa čak i kancerogene ili teratogene osobine/svojstva. Njihove rezidue u proizvodima životinjskog porekla koji se koriste u ljudskoj ishrani, mogu veoma ozbiljno da ugroze zdravlje ljudi, koji su potencijalni konzumenti ove vrste hrane. Zbog toga je kontrola primene antimikrobnih lekova, kao i ostalih lekova u stočarstvu, od izuzetne važnosti.