DEGREE OF INTENSIFICATION OF THE ANIMAL INDUSTRIES

It may be expected that diseases are likely to be most common in intensive production systems. However, in most cases, diseases are generally better controlled in such situations than in extensive systems. This is principally a result of large intensive industries being able to justify high-tech facilities, more staff and better feeding and health management.

Problems caused by overintensification

A major risk to public health from the intensive approach is the high level of drug usage that is adopted by such systems and that can result in:

• Contamination of animal by-products by the drugs used to control growth and diseases, including hormones, antibiotics, other non-antibiotic growth promotion products such as copper or arsenic, and preparations used to control internal and external parasites, which contain chemicals such as organophosphates.
• Antibiotic resistance caused by the overuse of antibiotics as growth promoters or to control the chronic persistent background diseases prevalent in such systems.

Using unproved technology

Another danger associated with intensive systems is the need to be continuously at the forefront of science in order to keep ahead of disease problems and attempt to increase profits. As a result, problems that previously were not experienced and expected will be encountered. The BSE crisis in the United Kingdom and, to a lesser extent, other European countries is one of the most significant examples of this. The disease appears to have developed as a result of changing the processing procedures of meat- and bonemeals in order to increase the speed of processing and reduce costs while, at the same time, using animal by-products in dairy cattle feeding in order to increase milk yields.

  In this context concern also exists over the use of GMOs.