Press contact: Lloyd Evans, Communications Officer - HCWH Europe

Email: Lloyd.evans@hcwh.org

Telephone: +32 (0) 2503 4911

The Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI Committee) have today voted on amendments to the European Commission’s action plan on AMR.

Today’s result is a call for a more proactive and targeted approach to tackle the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) from the environment to humans. The European Commission’s Action Plan proposed in 2017 barely mentions the environmental aspect of AMR, but today’s decision calls for mandatory monitoring of AMR and antimicrobial resistance genes in the environment at a national level.

Seeking to improve knowledge on the spread and occurrence of AMR in the environment, the ENVI committee’s vote calls for synergy between data from environmental monitoring within the Water Framework Directive’s Watch List and the “One Health” approach proposed by the European Commission.

Also on today’s agenda the committee voted for the EU to prohibit the veterinary use of antibiotics that are critically important for human health; both results are a step forward towards closing security gaps the EU faces in the global threat posed by AMR.

NOTES TO THE EDITOR

About Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) Europe

HCWH Europe is a non-profit European coalition of hospitals, healthcare systems, healthcare professionals, local authorities, research/academic institutions and environmental and health organisations. It currently has 84 members in 26 countries from the WHO European region, including 17 EU member states. HCWH Europe works to transform the healthcare sector worldwide so that it becomes more ecologically sustainable and a leading advocate for environmental health and justice across the globe. We bring the voice of healthcare professionals to the European policy debate about key issues such as chemicals, climate change and health, green building, sustainable procurement, pharmaceuticals, sustainable food and waste management.