A premature baby, born after 25 weeks, being treated in a hospital in Guangdong Province was found to have drug resistance to a wide range of antibiotics.
It was believed that this was because the child's mother had eaten meat and eggs containing high volumes of antibiotic residue.
The premature baby only weighed 650 grams but was resistant to seven different types of antibiotics, the People's Daily reported yesterday, citing the Guangzhou Women and Children Hospital in Guangdong's capital city of Guangzhou.
Meanwhile, a survey by the rural development institute with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences discovered that industrial feedstuffs carrying antibiotics, hormones and additional medicines have been widely used by farmers in Shandong and Liaoning provinces in raising livestock and poultry.
Among the farmers interviewed, about 50 percent added antibiotics and drugs into the feedstuffs, according to Yin Xiaoqing, a research fellow with the institute.
Some farmers feed livestock or poultry doses based on their so-called experience or feeling, which is prone to exceed standard antibiotics limits, the newspaper said.
An industry insider warned that animals raised for food are fed far more antibiotics than is required.
"Western countries initially fed pigs antibiotic waste in 1960s to speed up their growth and later applied that to the entire industry," said Xie Zhongquan, chairman of Beijing Feedstuffs Industry Association. "However, the man-made wastes form residues inside animal bodies as they are unable to degrade."
A senior research fellow with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences said the correct use of antibiotics aids growth in animals and keeps them disease-free.
"The drug residues endangering human health are mainly caused by the application of excessive doses or unqualified drugs, both of which are illegal," said Qi Guanghai, vice director of the academy's feedstuffs institute.
China produce 210,000 tons of raw antibiotics annually. More than 46 percent of the output is for animal farming industry, making the situation worse than in most other countries, according to an expert panel led by Professor Xiao Yonghong in the Peking University's clinical pharmacy institute.
Antibiotics found in animals accumulate in human bodies following the long-term intake of animal products, and may cause allergic symptoms or drug resistance to most diseases, warned experts.
