Investors representing more than $13tn in combined assets have urged policymakers to help curb the spread of drug-resistant “superbugs” by cutting the excessive use of antibiotics in the food supply chain.
Ahead of the UN General Assembly’s second high-level meeting on anti-microbial resistance (AMR) this month, about 80 investors or investor representatives, including Legal & General Investment Management and Australian pension fund Hesta, have called for the use of antibiotics in humans, animals and agriculture to be reduced.
They say this is “not just a health necessity but also an economic imperative”. Resistance to existing anti-microbials is forecast to claim up to 10mn lives annually by 2050, according to the World Health Organization, matching the toll caused by cancer.