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July 23,
2007 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Animal
agriculture forms a major part of the Manitoba economy and spreading
of manure from hog operations on pasture, firstly as a means of
providing a natural fertilizer to pasture, and secondly as a means
of disposing of manure, is common. In the rural municipality
of La Broquerie in southeastern Manitoba, a project is taking place
to answer questions about the potential risk this practice could
pose to animal and human health.
With
financial support from the Agri-Food Research and Development
Initiative and Manitoba Pork Council, researchers from the
University of Manitoba have monitored groundwater after spreading
manure from hogs onto pasture. Around the world, there has been
concern that widespread antibiotic use in hogs could lead to
increased antibiotic-resistant bacteria due to repeated exposure.
“If agriculture is a major contributor to the development of
antibiotic resistance, then we would expect a huge number of
antibiotic-resistant bacteria from hog manure to find its way into
the groundwater,” says Department of Animal Science lead researcher
Denis Krause. “This was not the case at La Broquerie.”
Instead, testing showed that a large number of antibiotic-resistant
bacteria found in the groundwater occurred naturally in the
soil. The findings support a January 2006 article in the
magazine Science, which similarly found that extensive
antibiotic resistance exists naturally in the environment.
“One of the reasons for this is that microorganisms in the
environment are survivors and have, over the millennia, developed
mechanisms to combat a host of chemical compounds in nature,” says
Krause. “They use these mechanisms to live in the presence of
antibiotics.”
Before
the study at La Broquerie, no hog manure had previously been spread
on the land, making the site an ideal field laboratory of the
long-term effects of hog manure application on the environment, and
in particular, groundwater. Even with these results, we still
need to be vigilant about specific types of bacteria found in hog
manure, such as Eschericia coli, since even one public health
incident can have such dramatic effect. However, this research
shows that we can’t assume that hogs are responsible for
antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the environment. Analysis of
the groundwater at La Broquerie shows that these bacteria survive
and thrive in nature, with or without the presence of hogs.
ARDI is
a research and development granting program of Agriculture and
Agri-Food Canada and Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural
Initiatives. It is funded through the Agricultural Policy
Framework, a federal-provincial-territorial long-term action plan
for agriculture.
For more information, please contact:
Denis
Krause, Department of Animal Science, University of Manitoba
Phone: (204)
474-6126
David Gislason, ARDI
Council Chair
Phone: (204) 376-5578
or Cell: (204) 641-1755
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