Growing Forward 2 - Final Report | Page 46

RESEARCH & SURVEILLANCE A coordinated and integrated research program that would be built upon a strong infrastructure, with both basic and applied components, was promoted as fundamental, to providing evidence-based guidance for antibiotic use. Surveillance research programs to monitor antibiotic use, and to track the development of antibiotic resistance amongst common bacterial pathogens, in all food-producing animal sectors, is essential for meaningful progress in this area. The current surveillance efforts through the CIPARS could be expanded and enhanced. Studies to elucidate factors related to the use of specific classes of antibiotics could be explored with concerted efforts made to evaluate the key drivers of antibiotic use, as well as the relationship between their use and the development of resistance. As much as is possible, these data could be explored to identify the correlation between antibiotic use in animals and its impact on antibiotic resistance in human pathogens. More focused research on risk assessment related to the development of resistance through the use of antibiotics in food animals is needed. A coordinated and integrated research program that would be built upon a strong infrastructure, with both basic and applied components, is needed to provide evidence-based guidance for antibiotic use. As well as a need to develop new antibiotics, there is a critical need for the development of feasible and effective alternatives to the use of antibiotics in food animal production systems, which would result in a decrease in the amount of antibiotics used. These investigations into alternatives to antibiotics could include the impacts on animal welfare and the financial implications to producers. While new vaccines, probiotic products and other alternative approaches to the maintenance of health such as management techniques could result in decreased use of antibiotics, it was cautioned that there needs to be good understanding of the consequences of reduced use. Furthermore, the assessment of management techniques to improve the concept of Raised Without Antibiotics (RWA) production programs should not lose sight of best management practices and animal welfare. Research to support registration and approval of label indications is urgently needed in some food-producing animal sectors, which will lead to a decrease in the extra-label drug use. As well, research is needed on withdrawal times, specific disease control, impact of free trade, and foodborne diseases. Participating veterinarians suggest that there be an effort to share research data worldwide, and that there could be a systematic review of these data by an expert panel. Standardization of veterinary lab data to produce information that will help to identify antibiotic resistance patterns would be of assistance. Regarding residue violations, participating veterinarians felt that these should be traced back to the producer, reported to the veterinarian and lead to the development of SOPs. Increased support of CgFARAD would be of assistance in this regard. College of Veterinarians of Ontario  46