‘Antibiotic resistance could kill us before climate change’

Antibiotic resistance is a major threat that "could kill us before climate change does", the United Kingdom's chief medical officer has told Sky News. Professor Dame Sally Davies, who is also chief medical adviser to the UK government, told Sky News "at least 10 million could die every year if we don't get on top of this" - claiming more lives than currently both cancer and diabetes. As the UK seeks to forge its own post-Brexit international trade deals, Dame Sally expressed serious concerns about countries outside of the European Union who use antibiotics in animal farming "at dramatically high levels". Currently, around 70 per cent of the world's antibiotics are given to farm animals with intensive farming expanding due to a growing global demand for meat. Stressing the importance of tackling the issue, she said "antibiotics underpin modern medicine - you can't have gut surgery, replacement hips, all sorts of surgery without risking infection." Image: News Corp Australia Read More Our Apps