Listen to this Podcast
More 60-Second Science
“We produce nine billion food animals in the United States every year. And most of these animals are fed antibiotics throughout their life. And it’s the single greatest use of antibiotics in the United States.” Lance Price, director of the TGen North Center for Microbiomics and Human Health in Flagstaff, at the ScienceWriters2011 conference on October 16th.
“And then this is the thing that just drives public health people crazy: most antibiotics are fed to healthy animals to promote growth or to prevent diseases that may be just occurring because of the way we’re raising them. Overcrowding and unsanitary conditions—we call them production diseases. And so we’re using these lifesaving drugs as production tools. It’s pretty amazing.
“So most animals are raised in concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAPOs. I could not honestly engineer a better system for creating antibiotic-resistant bacteria than to introduce antibiotics to this setting. And that’s exactly what we do every day in the United States. If we all recognize that antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest threats to public health that we face today, we have to do something about this.”
—Steve Mirsky
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
See what we're tweeting about
10 Comments
Add CommentThis is not news, it's a history lesson, this problem has been known about and not acted upon for the last 25 years!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIs real scientific news on the decline?
312 million people need to slaughter & devour 9 billion animal every year! The animals are lucky, the human species goes extinct in about 300 years. Though most of them too will follow, but that is a better outcome than slaughter, especially religious slaughter, designed to prolong the agony.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNews? Anything new? Nope, move along.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisALL research so far has shown raising animals for food is not cost effective. If meat were treated simply on its' environmental impact its' production would be made illegal.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthe less antibiotics should be used in clinical therapies.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFantastic reason to go vegan/vegetarian, as I have! Easy to feed the world on a plant based diet. All evidence provides it is a healthy alternative.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am expecting that ruminants are involved with a genetic bomb.The one that is supposed to kill a third of the planet. I also suspect the IC engine may be involved. The only reason only a third of the human race is supposed to die is due to the antidote. Or Not.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow is this handled in other first world areas like Europe. Japan or Australia for example?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPeople have raised and eaten meat animals for thousands of years. While this is a problem, I don't think it is a sufficient argument to go vegan / vegetarian.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMay be man will become superman one day, the antibioitics, the pesticeds, heavy metals,....
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this