Farmaceuticals: The drugs fed to farm animals and the risks posed to humans

http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/farmaceuticals-the-drugs-fed-to-farm-animals-and-the-risks-posed-to-humans/

by aschearer • 12 years ago

58 12 12 years ago

reuters.com

jrapdx3• 12 years ago

The emergence of "superbugs", bacteria resistant to antibiotics, is a well-known phenomenon and the basis of recent pressure on physicians/providers to discontinue prescribing antibiotics to humans when bacterial infection is absent, e.g., a viral infection is the problem.

The use of antibiotics in animal-raising industries has long since been suspected of contributing to bacterial resistance. The article points out how this happens and specific instances where it did happen.

Living in Oregon I remember when the Foster Farms incident occurred. At the time, poor hygiene practices at the farm were blamed, and the grower promised to comply with demands to clean up their act. However, I don't recall that grower's antibiotic use was reported or discussed as part of the problem, though if it was it was kept low key and escaped my attention.

Given the range of growers' experience reported in the article, and difficulty of FDA maintaining oversight (so many growers, so few FDA inspectors), it would make sense to simply ban the use of "medically important" antibiotics in the chicken and other animal-growing industries.

I've seen it happen, people are made seriously ill or die because of treatment-resistant bacteria and we are all at risk. Health care workers are especially vulnerable given the greater chance of exposure to resistant organisms.

OTOH consumers of chicken and meat products can help themselves by assiduously adhering to hygienic practices when handling uncooked meat, and make sure foods are adequately cooked to destroy potential bacterial contamination. While incidence of contamination is low, it's not nil, and taking these precautions is only prudent.

Terr_• 12 years ago

Ah, externalities. Privatize the profit (bigger animals), socialize the costs (deadlier bacteria.)

"Several scientific, peer reviewed risk assessments demonstrate that resistance emerging in animals and transferring to humans does not happen in measurable amounts, if at all," said Tom Super, spokesman for the National Chicken Council.

This feels like echoes of "Cigarettes Are Safe" from previous decades. (Yes, that comparison is a bit prejudicial, I know.)

sliverstorm• 12 years ago

We socialize the profit; cheaper meat.

maxxxxx• 12 years ago

Looking at the waistlines of people I am not sure this is profit :-)

autism_hurts2• 12 years ago

While it may be difficult to do, I highly recommend anyone in tech to go visit a farm supply store and wander around.

Bags -- BAGS of antibiotics available for purchase, to be mixed into feed.

Buy local, buy sustainable, buy pastured meat.

pinaceae2• 12 years ago

"pasteured meat"? so pre-cooked? no more steaks for you?

tapeworms and other shit are fun.

autism_hurts2• 12 years ago

Are you serious?

http://growandbehold.com/index.php?page=Why

jperras• 12 years ago

pastured != pasteured, in addition to the latter not being an actual word in English.

pinaceae2• 12 years ago

this is turning similar to the vaccination debate with children.

you need to vaccinate the herd if you want risk-free meat. a lot of people used to die due to contaminated meat and animal products.

free range chicken does not even exist anymore - can't can keep them outside due risk of infection from other birds (bird flu). etc etc etc.

you can turn to vegetarianism, with all the other issues it brings. separate discussion. but once you're ok with using animals for food, you need to get real about vaccinating them. no way around it.

nature is NOT a romantic mother, it is a very harsh place which is the sole reason for our civilization. all inventions (housing, agriculture, etc.) are meant to protect us from nature - cold, bugs, predators, accidents, genetics, etc.

stellar678• 12 years ago

Antibiotics are not vaccines.

Antibiotics are used to produce larger animals and to avoid the effort and cost of raising animals in sanitary conditions, without much regard for the effects on antibiotic resistance.

Vaccines are another matter. Chickens, for example, are routinely vaccinated against Marek's disease without much controversy.

dreamweapon• 12 years ago

You need to vaccinate the herd if you want risk-free meat.

This is kind of like saying you need to drink a gallon of cough syrup every morning if you want cough-free smoking.

jensen123• 12 years ago

Without this kind of unsafe drugging of animals, meat would probably be more expensive. But expensive meat is only a problem if people eat a lot of it, like Americans do today.

The solution to this problem, really is to eat less meat. There are many health benefits to eating less meat, in addition to the antibiotics problem. Two books that explain this well are The Enzyme Factor by Hiromi Shinya and The China Study by T. Colin Campbell.

This matches my own experience as well. I used to have a nasty acne problem. Cutting down on meat (and dairy) has made my skin much nicer. Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking by Fuchsia Dunlop is a great cookbook for (mostly) plant foods, by the way. It seems that the Chinese have been aware of the health benefits of a diet centered around plants, rather than meat and dairy, for a very long time.

Farmaceuticals: The drugs fed to farm animals and the risks posed to humans

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