Oxford animal-only antibiotic lab could prop up intensive farming, critics say

New research centre to tackle overlap of livestock and human medicines, but campaigners fear "techno-fix" for factory farmingAn initiative to develop bespoke antibiotics for livestock has raised fears that it could be a "techno-fix" for more intensive farming.Mixed reactions have followed news that Ineos, a global petrochemical manufacturer, has donated ?100m to establish the Ineos Oxford University Institute (IOI) for antimicrobial research.The institute said it would focus on designing novel antimicrobials solely for animals because the majority of global antibiotic consumption by volume was in agriculture, and antibiotic use in animals was contributing significantly to their lessening effectiveness in humans. Continue reading...