

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

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Terr_
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
We socialize the profit; cheaper meat.

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

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jrapdx3
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.

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jensen123
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.

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autism_hurts
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.

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

tapeworms and other shit are fun.

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

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pinaceae
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
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.

