8. Statement by the Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd: Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) — Progress of the Wales Five-year Animal and Environment Plan

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:45 pm on 28 February 2023.

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Photo of Jenny Rathbone Jenny Rathbone Labour 5:45, 28 February 2023

Thank you very much, Minister, for this very important statement. I think it's really important that we all realise that, unless we change our ways, we are all going to be in danger of dying from the simplest intervention, for example, if we were to get an infection, break our arm, or some other thing. It would take medicine back to the nineteenth century really. So, this could hardly be more important.

As you say, infection prevention and control is absolutely essential, and I wanted to look at where you want to target reduction of the most high-risk uses. Obviously, I immediately thought about the life of the chicken—these thousands of chickens in sheds, and whether antibiotic use is routine for trying to control infections, because, as with any species, if you pack people together in a small space, an infection by one animal or human will quickly spread elsewhere if it isn't properly ventilated. So, I just wondered whether we can really afford to go on rearing animals in this highly packed far too closely together environment, in order to, obviously, feed the enthusiasm of both producers and consumers for cheap chicken.