See All-Creatures.org Health Position and Disclaimer
Sophie Linden, AlterNet.org
November 2017
While overprescription of antibiotics in humans is a viable issue, recent statements from WHO express heightened concern over the ramifications from their misuse in the meat industry.
Photo Credit: lakov Fillimonov / Shutterstock.com
A recent report from the World Health Organization describes the dangers
humanity faces from overprescription of critical infection-fighting drugs,
which has led to both superbugs and antibiotics' dwindling efficacy, making
humans vulnerable to infections doctors otherwise regarded as benign. While
overprescription in humans is a viable issue, recent statements from WHO
express heightened concern over the ramifications from their misuse in the
meat industry.
“Stop Using Antibiotics in Healthy Animals to Prevent the Spread of
Antibiotic Resistance” is the title of WHO's latest press release,
reiterating a message that has been clear for decades. The current culture
of force-feeding antibiotics to livestock presents a danger to millions of
humans. At present, animals used for livestock are fed around 80 percent of
prescribed antibiotics worldwide. The measure has been perpetuated by the
low cost of the medicines, as well as antibiotics' proven ability to
accelerate growth and weight gain in livestock, effectively speeding up the
process of food production. In 2015, the U.S. used 34.3 million pounds of
antibiotics on animals. The result is antibiotic-resistant bacteria in
animals and humans through food and airborne pathogens.
At present, 700,000 people die each year from antibiotic-resistant
infections, and it is predicted that this number could increase to 10
million by 2050, making low-risk operations like hip replacements and
treatable urinary tract infections a new health crisis. The Guardian calls
the collapse an “antibiotic apocalypse,” wherein the world is set to face
the same surgical risks it did before 1928, when penicillin was discovered.
Essentially a century’s worth of medical advances could be reversed.
As Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of WHO, confirms, “A lack of
effective antibiotics is as serious a security threat as a sudden and deadly
disease outbreak.” This is due in part to a lack of replacement therapies.
In its statement, WHO warns that “there are very few promising options in
the research pipeline.” The Guardian points out that this is precipitated by
the “failure of pharmaceutical companies to investigate and develop new
sources of general medicines for the future.” Perhaps, because what’s broken
is still paying off.
The threat of antibiotic overprescription has been clear since the 1960s,
according to Tom Philpott, co-author of Big Chicken: The Incredible Story of
How Antibiotics Created Modern Agriculture and Changed the Way the World
Eats. But it wasn’t until this past January that the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration made any kind of regulatory change to address the escalating
crisis, asking that the livestock industry no longer use antibiotics to
accelerate the growth of animals. However, the language used by the FDA has
left an opening for the agriculture industry to continue its use of
antibiotic treatments, allowing them to be prescribed and used as
preventative medicine—treating antibiotics as prophylactics, with plenty of
room for indiscretion.
While it is is a highly regarded resource, WHO is not a regulatory body, and
any reform must happen at the level of government. The troubling lack of
concern from the federal government leaves little hope that there will be
any change to FDA standards. Given the situation, vegan diets may be one of
the main ways to resist the increasing use of antibiotics in livestock,
protecting both animal rights and our own immunity to pathogens.
Sophie Linden is an editorial assistant at AlterNet's office in Berkeley, CA.
Return to Food Hazards in Animal Flesh and By-products
Read more at Vegan Health Articles
Read more at The Meat and Dairy Industries
We began this archive as a means of assisting our visitors in answering many of their health and diet questions, and in encouraging them to take a pro-active part in their own health. We believe the articles and information contained herein are true, but are not presenting them as advice. We, personally, have found that a whole food vegan diet has helped our own health, and simply wish to share with others the things we have found. Each of us must make our own decisions, for it's our own body. If you have a health problem, see your own physician.