Abstract
Strategies that take on a One Health approach to addressing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) focused on reducing human use of antimicrobials, but policy-makers now have to grapple with a different set of political, economic, and highly sensitive trade interests less amenable to government direction, to tackle AMR in the food chain. Understanding the importance and influence of the intergovernmental Codex negotiations underway on AMR in the Food Chain is very weak but essential for AMR public policy experts. National and global food producing industries are already under pressure as consumers learn about the use of antimicrobials in food production and more so when the full impact of AMR microorganisms in the food chain and on the human microbiome is better understood. Governments will be expected to respond. Trade-related negotiations on access and use made of antimicrobials is political: the relevance of AMR ‘evidence’ is already contested and not all food producers or users of antimicrobials in the food chain are prepared to, or capable of, moving at the same pace. In trade negotiations governments defend their interpretation of national interest. Given AMR in the global food chain threatens national interest, both AMR One Health and zoonotic disease experts should understand and participate in all trade-related AMR negotiations to protect One Health priorities. To help facilitate this an overview and analysis of Codex negotiations is provided.
Highlights
Access to and Use of AntimicrobialsA global political consensus has been reached confirming antimicrobials underpin human health security so access and use of these miracle products has to be wound back across all sectors of the economy [1]
At this stage of the negotiations many of the parameters for discussion have ambiguity built-in and while this might placate some concerns there is always the danger these limitations can become in-built into the decisions eventually evolving from the Taskforce on Antimicrobial Resistance (TFAMR) [22]
The many but yet little known consequences of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the food chain will emerge as research efforts intensify and unravel the complex AMR effects on the broader ecosystem, including wildlife, water, and soil
Summary
A global political consensus has been reached confirming antimicrobials underpin human health security so access and use of these miracle products has to be wound back across all sectors of the economy [1]. Intellectual property and copyright provisions extended through WTO Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) [5]; reducing chemical toxicity in domestic products—EU REACH Legislation (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restrictions of Chemicals) [6], and promoting health objectives—Tobacco Plain Packaging Policy [7] With such complex trade agendas, it was inevitably these transformations created economic disruption by altering access and or use provisions which redistributed costs, benefits, investments and profits. This includes understanding the technical and legal structures that enable and legitimize the use of antimicrobials in the food chain as well as the capacity to exclude them in specific circumstances from imported food This will require AMR public health experts to be active in setting AMR government priorities in these trade-related negotiations to ensure AMR policy coherence: The international standard setting body for food safety, Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex); the World Trade Organization (WTO); and Bilateral and Regional Free Trade Agreements. To date, neither of the TFAMR draft negotiation texts refer to the WHO Guidelines on Use of Medically Important Antimicrobials in Food-producing Animals biocides appear to be excluded; and, altering Codex Maximum Residue Limits (MRL) to consider MRLs for medically important antimicrobials do not seem to be open for discussion
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