Hi, my name is Ben and I work as a junior doctor.

Every day at work I prescribe or administer antibiotics to patients, who rely on them to get better. But the antibiotics aren’t working as well as they used to and drug-resistant infections are becoming more and more common. Even in the short amount of time that I have been working as a doctor, I have seen numerous cases of antibiotics not working as they should.

Antibiotic pollution from India and China’s drug factories is fuelling the rise of drug-resistant infections worldwide, making even minor operations and illnesses potentially life-threatening. When major drugs purchasers, such as the NHS, buy antibiotics from these companies, they are supporting the rise of drug-resistant infections worldwide.

Every year the NHS spends millions of pounds on tackling superbugs yet at the same time sources antibiotics from companies that are helping create the problem in the first place by polluting the environment! 

The irony is painful: through irresponsible drug procurement the NHS is unwittingly fuelling a future public health crisis.

Please sign my petition to ask NHS officials to stop the rise of drug resistance through the back door by blacklisting antibiotics from polluting factories and ensuring that the pharmaceutical industry cleans up its supply chains.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is already a major public health crisis, causing over 25,000 deaths every year in Europe alone and 700,000 worldwide. Experts predict that by 2050, 10 million people will die worldwide as a result of untreatable infections.

Overuse of antibiotics in intensive animal farming and inappropriate use in human medicine are two other important causes of AMR.

But there’s good news: pollution from antibiotics factories can be easily dealt with!

We have to do everything in our power to stop AMR, but compared to other causes, pharmaceutical pollution is relatively easy to solve: companies have to become more responsible. Calling on the NHS to stop buying drugs from companies that recklessly pollute the environment and profit at the expense of our health will send a clear message to the industry that such practices will no longer be tolerated.

Sign the petition now and tell the NHS to stop buying drugs from dirty companies.

Thanks for your support.

Yours sincerely,

Ben

This petition is part of a worldwide appeal to major purchasers of antibiotics, including a call to action to one of Germany’s biggest health insurance providers (https://www.change.org/p/techniker-krankenkasse-stoppt-superkeime-säubert-eure-lieferketten) and U.S. drug retail giant CVS Health (https://www.change.org/p/cvs-health-tell-cvs-stop-superbug-pollution) which also source antibiotics from polluting Indian companies.

To find out more:

Changing Markets, 'Superbugs in the Supply Chain: How pollution from antibiotics factories in India and China is fuelling the global rise of drug-resistant infections', http://epha.org/press-release-antibiotic-factories-compounding-superbug-spread/

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 'Revealed: How dirty production of NHS drugs helps create superbugs', https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2016/10/18/revealed-dirty-production-nhs-drugs-helps-create-superbugs/