An Ethical Overview of Animal Welfare and the Use of Antibiotics

Authors

  • Joseph Nkang Ogar Department of Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, University of Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria
  • Kemi Anthony Emina Department of Religious Studies and Philosophy, Delta State University, Abraka, Delta State, Nigeria
  • Samuel Akpan Bassey Department of Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, University of Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.48165/

Keywords:

Ethics, Animal Welfare, Antibiotic

Abstract

Antibiotic use in livestock has been indicted for  playing a key role in the emerging public health  calamity of antibiotic resistance in human beings.  While antibiotics are vital medical tools that help  to fight bacterial infections, scientific opinion  proposes that if animal farmers continue to use  them sub-therapeutically in animal feeds, they  will pose a severe threat to human health as well  as animals. This paper object to the use of  antibiotics in animal feeds, not only because it  affects human health, but insofar as it also  promotes or makes possible farming practices  that significantly harm animals, and has no independent value aside from doing so. This  paper argues that it is possible to stop the spread  of disease through proper sanitation and effective  cleaning of farms while providing animals with  environments that fit their needs and interests.  Furthermore, improvements in production  practices that reflect good animal welfare is  something that we owe to animals, as they are  beings with interests and needs that ought to be  respected and protected in the same way that our  interests and needs ought to be. 

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Published

2020-06-21

How to Cite

An Ethical Overview of Animal Welfare and the Use of Antibiotics . (2020). Bulletin of Pure & Applied Sciences- Zoology , 39(1), 217–229. https://doi.org/10.48165/