Engagements

Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister – in the House of Commons at 11:30 am on 7 May 2014.

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Photo of Zac Goldsmith Zac Goldsmith Conservative, Richmond Park 11:30, 7 May 2014

The chief medical officer warned last month that we are misusing antibiotics to such an extent that we risk returning, in just a matter of years, to a 19th-century environment where routine operations carry a grave risk of death. A couple of days ago, the World Health Organisation issued a similar warning, saying that we are hurtling towards the post-antibiotic age. On that basis, it is surely madness to continue to allow so many antibiotics to be used on our factory farms—about half the total use in this country—when we know that that contributes to resistance.