This week we publish a special investigation in tandem with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (see pages 432-433). The research, carried out by the bureau, reveals the fundamental challenge of antimicrobial resistance in that it is very much a shared global problem but there are unequal efforts in tackling it. Here, as in the rest of Europe, it is illegal to use antibiotics for growth promotion in food producing animals – this has been the case since 2006. The USA also banned the practice last year. But this is not the case elsewhere, for example in India. In Hyderabad, a bureau reporter found antibiotics used for growth promotion were sold to farmers directly without prescription. The products were sold by Zoetis, the largest global animal pharmaceutical …