Between therapy, prevention and growth enhancement: Veterinary antibiotics and intensive farming in France and Britain, 1945-1970. (360G-Wellcome-087292_Z_08_Z)

My research will analyse the three agricultural uses of antibiotics - as therapy, preventive medicine and growth promotion in Britain and France over the period 1945-70. I will examine how these roles both drove and developed in response to - Experiences of antibiotic uses in the field, including changing disease pictures emerging as a result of intensification - Changes in scientific understandings of antibiotics, including concerns arising from the 1950s about bacterial resistance and it s implications for human and animal health - Changes in veterinary expertise, priorities and relationships with other parties involved in antibiotic production and use, namely farmers, drug and food companies, agricultural scientists and advisers. - The involvement of drug and food companies in agriculture and animal health - The growth of agricultural scientific research and advisory services - National and international shifts in agricultural policy, the economy and trade