A Surprising Leading Health Threat

I’ve written about antibiotic resistance and animal agriculture before, but I just saw an eye-opening article on the subject and I wanted to share it with everyone. It might be a bit surprising since antibiotic resistance doesn’t often spring to mind when people think of top health hazards, but, as the World Health Organization points out, antibiotic resistance is one of the leading threats to human health.

The article is long and detailed, but for those of you who prefer to cut to the chase, per say, I copied a few excerpts below that I thought summarized the issue nicely:

 “Researchers say the overuse of antibiotics in humans and animals has led to a plague of drug-resistant infections that killed more than 65,000 people in the U.S. last year — more than prostate and breast cancer combined. And in a nation that used about 35 million pounds of antibiotics last year, 70 percent of the drugs went to pigs, chickens and cows. Worldwide, it's 50 percent”.

“America's farmers give their pigs, cows and chickens about 8 percent more antibiotics each year, usually to heal lung, skin or blood infections. However, 13 percent of the antibiotics administered on farms last year were fed to healthy animals to make them grow faster. Antibiotics also save as much as 30 percent in feed costs among young swine, although the savings fade as pigs get older, according to a new USDA study.

However, these animals can develop germs that are immune to the antibiotics. The germs then rub into scratches on farmworkers' arms, causing oozing infections. They blow into neighboring communities in dust clouds, run off into lakes and rivers during heavy rains, and are sliced into roasts, chops and hocks and sent to our dinner tables.”

Some legislatures and scientists have proposed banning the use of antibiotics in farmed animals who are not sick, but although this is a good first step, I think there is a much better solution: Stop raising animals for food in the first place. The fewer animals we raise, the fewer germs there will be—not to mention all of the other health threats from eating meat, eggs, and dairy products! 

In case you haven’t checked it out yet, www.VegCooking.com has lots of vegan recipes, tips, and product suggestions.

P.S. I lifted the picture from TreeHugger—I think it illustrates the issue perfectly!