Drug Resistance Through the Back Door

The document identifies environmental pollution from antibiotic manufacturing in China and India as a key cause of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), contributing to a global health crisis where common medical procedures could become high-risk. It highlights a lack of transparency in the pharmaceutical supply chain and urges the NHS and other large buyers to blacklist companies that dump inadequately treated antibiotic waste.

• Environmental pollution from antibiotic production, specifically the dumping of manufacturing waste into rivers and lakes in China and India, is fueling the proliferation of drug-resistant bacteria.
• Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a severe threat to modern medicine, with annual deaths in Europe currently around 25,000 and projected to reach 390,000 by 2050, while global deaths could reach 10 million.
• While the misuse of anti-infectives in farming and human medicine is the primary driver of AMR, pollution within the pharmaceutical supply chain is also a causational factor.
• The document advocates for the National Health Service (NHS) and other large buyers to leverage their procurement power to force changes in manufacturing by blacklisting companies involved in antibiotic pollution.

APA

Changing Markets Foundation (2016). Drug Resistance Through the Back Door. https://changingmarkets.org/report/drug-resistance-through-the-back-door/

Chicago

Changing Markets Foundation. Drug Resistance Through the Back Door. 2016. https://changingmarkets.org/report/drug-resistance-through-the-back-door/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Changing Markets Foundation |title=Drug Resistance Through the Back Door |date=13 September 2016 |url=https://changingmarkets.org/report/drug-resistance-through-the-back-door/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{changingmarketsfoundation2016drug, author = {{Changing Markets Foundation}}, title = {{Drug Resistance Through the Back Door}}, institution = {Changing Markets Foundation}, year = {2016}, month = sep, url = {https://changingmarkets.org/report/drug-resistance-through-the-back-door/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }