Hugo Clément’s documentary Drugs: the time bomb, broadcast as part of the program “Sur le Front”, Monday November 14 at 9 p.m. on France 5, reviews the dangers of drug pollution in France. It also evokes the opacity of their manufacture, the search for new molecules and the risks of antibiotic resistance.
Antibiotics are at the heart of the documentary. If the slogan “Antibiotics are not automatic” seems to have borne fruit with humans, Hugo Clément’s investigation reveals that it is different for farm animals.
When asked, Brigitte Gothière, co-founder of the animal defense association L214, assures that “40% of total drugs” in France are intended for “veterinary health”. “VSIt’s huge, there’s a part that goes to pets and a part to farm animals. Eight out of 10 animals that are slaughtered come from intensive farms in France. And for rabbits, we are almost at 100%. It’s a bomb sanitary”she explains in the documentary.
A rabbit farmer agreed to open his doors and testify anonymously. Obliged to breed more and more animals to make his breeding profitable, he is forced to inject them with antifungals every day in order to stimulate their growth. “Rabbits are very, very fragile. They pick up all kinds of little microbes, declares the breeder. These are animals that have been selected to have super fast growth, to resist that, you have to put antibiotics.
Beyond the risks of antibiotic resistance due to these daily injections which accustom the body of rabbits to these molecules, there is the question of the danger for humans who consume them. “As I put the antibiotic, it is out of the question that I eat these beasts, s‘exclaims the rancher in the documentary. Consumers eat them, because they don’t know. VSThat’s why we are asked to lock the doors so that no one enters the farms.”
While since April 2022, a ministerial decree has prohibited the import into France of meat from animals that have been raised on growth antibiotics, it would seem that this practice, supposed to be prohibited in Europe since 2006, continues.
>> The documentary Drugs: the ticking time bomb is broadcast as part of the show “Son the forehead” Monday, November 14 at 9 p.m. on France 5.