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Can the use of biocides give rise to antibiotic resistant bacteria?

Press Release, GreenFacts asbl Print version

Brussels, 10 October 2009.  

Today, bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics and there is scientific evidence that the use and misuse of biocides such as disinfectants, antiseptics, or preservatives can contribute to antibiotic resistance.
If and how this might occur has been explored in the recent opinion on ”Antibiotic Resistance Effects of Biocides” by the Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) of the European Commission.
At the request of the European Commission DG Health and Consumers, GreenFacts faithfully summarised this SCENIHR opinion.
The plain-language summary will be available next week from the EU Directorate General of Health and Consumers website. It is already available from GreenFacts in four languages: English, French, Spanish and German.

Highlights of the SCENIHR Opinion on Antibiotic Resistance Effects of Biocides

Biocides are added to many consumer goods such as cosmetics and detergents to kill bacteria or inhibit their growth. They are widely used in animal husbandry, food production and health care.
Biocide use could pose a direct threat to human health if it leads to the survival of some harmful bacteria which are resistant to antimicrobial products. Even the emergence of harmless resistant bacteria could pose an indirect threat, since their genes that confer resistance might be transferred to harmful bacteria.
To safeguard our ability to treat infections with antibiotics, a good hygiene to prevent infection and the appropriate use of biocides are crucial.
Different biocides act in different ways and some are more likely to lead to the emergence of resistant bacteria than others.
The risk of spreading resistant genes depends on the type of bacteria involved. Bacteria that grow as a biofilm attached to a surface are particularly able to survive hostile conditions and pose a high risk of resistance to both antibiotics and biocides.
To enable a clear risk assessment, the EC Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) stresses the need for further data on quantities of biocides used and on the way resistance mechanisms develop.

About GreenFacts

GreenFacts asbl/vzw is an independent, multi-stakeholder non-profit organization based in Belgium. Our mission is to bring complex scientific reports on health and the environment to the reach of non-experts.

We publish faithful summaries of authoritative international scientific reports. The summaries are written in a language for non-specialists and presented in a reader-friendly Three-Level Structure of increasing detail. GreenFacts’ publications are freely available in several languages on www.greenfacts.org.

GreenFacts was created in 2001 by individuals from scientific institutions, environmental and health organizations, and businesses, who called for wider access to unbiased information on health and the environment.

About the SCENIHR

The Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) was set up in 2004 by the European Commission to provide the Commission with unambiguous scientific advice on the safety of a series of issues requiring a comprehensive assessment of the risks, such as new technologies, medical devices, etc. The SCENIHR advice is intended to enable risk managers to take the adequate and required actions in order to guarantee consumer safety or public health.

The SCENIHR addresses questions concerning emerging or newly-identified risks and on broad, complex or multi-disciplinary issues such as antimicrobial resistance, nanotechnologies, tissue engineering, blood products, fertility reduction, cancer of endocrine organs, noise and electromagnetic fields.

About DG Health and Consumers

The role of Health and Consumers Directorate General of the European Commission is to make Europe’s citizens healthier, safer and more confident. Over the years the European Union has established EU laws on the safety of food and other products, on consumers' rights and on the protection of people's health. The DG Health and Consumers has the task of keeping these laws up to date.

It also ensures that the national, regional or even local governments in EU countries apply the EU's health and consumer protection laws and make sure traders, manufacturers and food producers in their country observe the rules.

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For further details visit www.greenfacts.org or contact

Stephanie Mantell
Tel: +32(0)2 211 3489
press(at)greenfacts(dot)org