'If you're going to watch one thing this weekend, watch Swine' by Pola Pospieszalska

15 July 2016

Last Friday- 8th July one of my favourite charities Viva! released their new short thriller/documentary, SWINE.

Swine

The movie exposes the global health crisis that we are facing, that the world's meat industry is trying to keep quiet.

For decades the factory farms have been abusing antibiotics and their actions have cultivated a global environment of antibiotics resistance.

For instance, antibiotic resistance developing in the pig population was discussed in the UK parliament as far back as 1953 but the situation was allowed to continue and the antibiotics resistant bacterias have now developed and have been found in pigs in the UK. Yet nothing is being done about this and the meat industry continues its inappropriate and excessive use of antibiotics on farmed animals.

50% of all antibiotics sold in the UK are used on the livestock with 60% of these being used on pigs. The practice is worldwide with the US feeding 70% of all their antibiotics to the farmed animals.

Some last-resort antibiotics for humans are being used extensively in animals and there are no replacements currently on the way. A new antibiotic resistant gene MCR-1 has developed in the worldwide pig population. It is resistant to Colistin - one of our last line of defence drugs against disease. It has been found in pigs across Europe including the UK. Speaking about the film Juliet Gellatley, Director of the charity Viva! said: "For years the factory farming industry have been lying to us about how they treat animals". She added: "The rise of antibiotic resistance in factory farms is just the latest in a long line of abuses by an unregulated and out of control industry, which needs to be stopped".

As I am working on the polish translation and the narrative in preparation for the movie release in another country I am realising the urgency for action.

The review commissioned by British Prime Minister back in 2015 and hosted by the Wellcome Trust estimates that unless effective action is taken, drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis (TB), malaria, HIV and certain bacterial infections- could- by 2050 be claiming 10 million lives each year. The responsibility is collective. There's no 'them' and 'us' and unless we as consumers choose carefully what kind of world we are supporting with our choices.

Creators of Swine, Damien Clarkson and Robbie Lockie of the Growing Box added: " We hope this film shines a light on the secretive world of factory farms. Antibiotics have saved thousands of lives every day and the actions of factory farms are making the spectre of an antibiotic resistant future a real possibility".

Watch below:

CONTAINS IMAGES SOME MAY FIND DISTURBING