A woman in Uganda lets her chickens out to forage during the day (via Flickr by Jennifer Wilmore/Bread for the World).

A commentary published in The Lancet last month supporting a series of five papers on antimicrobials recommends prohibiting use of antibiotics critically important for human medicine to promote the growth of livestock or to prevent routine livestock disease.

The commentary was written by Tim Robinson, a principal scientist in spatial analysis at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and colleagues in partner organizations.

‘One of the major public health challenges this century is the development of antimicrobial resistance in many important and common pathogens, such as Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Staphylococcus aureus. . . .

‘A substantial share of antimicrobial consumption is attributed to animal production.

Recent findings conservatively estimate that, from 2010 to 2030, global consumption of antimicrobials in livestock production will increase by two…