Feeding antibiotics to farm animals is making it harder to fight infections in people, the World Health Organisation has warned.

It has called for a ban on the practice following evidence showing it can cause drug-resistant bacteria.

The World Health Organisation's report into the danger posed by animals brought up on a diet rich in antibiotics comes after a meeting of 70 experts in Berlin.

Feeding animals antibiotics makes them grow faster

Feeding animals antibiotics makes them grow faster and protects them from disease.

But a growing number of organic farmers take the view that the side-effects are too great.

The WHO recommends only giving animals drugs when they are ill and never administering them an antibiotic used on humans.

It also recommends monitoring antibiotic resistance in food and healthy animals to prevent outbreaks such as Ecoli 0157, which killed around 20 people in Scotland this year.

Another effect of giving too many antibiotics to animal is growing resistance to the drugs in people.

Some experts say this has already happened in the case of some diseases.

The British Government has said it will start looking into the problem.

The WHO hopes farmers around the world will also take note.
 

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