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The Guardian reports that according to a Bureau of Investigative Journalism study, colistin, an "antibiotic of last resort," is used by the tonnes by Indian farms to make the poultry gain weight a little bit faster. And all of this is perfectly legal. The World Health Organization (WHO) calls antibiotic resistance "a major threat to public health".
Another reason to eat less meat I guess. Like we needed one.
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India's Farmed Chickens Dosed With World's Strongest Antibiotics
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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Oh, that sound of male ego. You travel halfway across the galaxy and
it's still the same song.
-- Eve McHuron, "Mudd's Women", stardate 1330.1
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Kilo110 on Friday February 02 2018, @06:39PM (15 children)
I've a fatalistic view of these types of things. Anything that requires a large number of people to sacrifice is doomed to failure. I'm not saying we shouldn't try, that's a difficult discussion entirely. But anything that requires conservation will end up failing in the long run. Antibiotics, natural resources, pollution controls, etc. On the aggregate, people are just too greedy and short-sighted to care.
In this case, the Indian Gov can outlaw it, but those farmers won't care, they'll continue using it anyway. You could go to the manufacturers and convince them (unlikely) to not to sell to the Indian farmers. But a middleman many step in and provide them the farmers the drugs anyway. Baring that, another manufacturer in china (for example) will step in and sell anyway.
Maybe someone can convince me I'm wrong?
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 02 2018, @07:28PM (4 children)
Nature has a way of setting things right no matter what we monkeys with car keys chose to do. We just won't like the consequences when it does.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 02 2018, @07:49PM (3 children)
Hear, hear. May the next species to evolve the capability for high technology find the ruins of our great cities and spend a good amount of time in meditation.
It could be that the first species to evolve technology on a planet will always destroy itself in its arrogance. Yet Earth abides. Another will come along, and perhaps they will be receptive to the failures of the first technological species.
The Galactic Federation can wait millions of years for intelligent life on Earth to join the rest of the galaxy. There is no reason the first species from Earth that fires up a torrent for the Encyclopaedia Galactica need be the self-styled h. "sapiens".
(Score: 4, Interesting) by dwilson on Saturday February 03 2018, @12:48AM (2 children)
I remember reading somewhere that the odds of a 'second rise of civilization' on Earth are astronomically low, due to the first rise (us) having already consumed all the easy to access resources. Think shallow ore and coal deposits and the like. What's left, for the most part, just wouldn't be accessible to pre-bronze age technology levels.
Maybe that isn't accurate. Or maybe it is, but if you go long-term enough (millions+ years) it'll sort itself out as plate tectonics take a hand in things. I don't know. I can think of one sure-fire way to find out, though. Anyone want to lobby President Twitter to press the button?
- D
(Score: 1) by therainingmonkey on Saturday February 03 2018, @11:41AM
That might be true, but all the junk from our civilisation will likely be lying around on the surface ready to be used/reused/recycled.
(Score: 2) by wisnoskij on Saturday February 03 2018, @02:53PM
We are already long past that. For the Western world we are in our second at least, but depending on how you count that number could be a lot higher.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Friday February 02 2018, @08:29PM
I'm with you. There is no way to stop things like this when people's livelihoods are at stake. Outlawing it may do something, but only education about the issue will truly solve it. Even then, you have the sociopathic section of our race that are pure evil, according to the definition of evil.
What may change their minds is the Indian government filming the deaths of people that get infected with these super pathogens. Announcing that an entire hospital is closed, a village quarantined.
It's not just happening in India, but in the U.S too. We're trying to do something about it though, because we're very educated as to the consequences through Hollywood. I'm seeing Kevin Spacy with blood dripping from his eyes when I hear stupid stuff like this.
Hey, if their stupid and up cutting their population in half, it actually helps the rest of the world in a morbid fashion. Only problem is that airlines and travel make the world one big petri dish.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 02 2018, @09:03PM (1 child)
One could regularly test the birds, then dish out severe punishment as needed.
At the farm, register the DNA. Anybody in possession of an unregistered bird gets punished.
At the retail location, check for antibiotics and recheck the DNA. If antibiotics are found, or if the DNA for that bird was never registered, punish as much of the supply chain as you can find. Punish the farmer, the slaughterhouse, the wholesaler, the supermarket or restaurant, etc.
Make it hurt. Go medieval. Criminals can be strapped down in a room full of hungry chickens.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 02 2018, @10:24PM
I don't think you understand India. The gov't issues all kinds of rules, nothing changes. The corruption might be worse than in China(?)
(Score: 2) by NewNic on Friday February 02 2018, @09:10PM (1 child)
Is there a sacrifice, though?
The evidence that antibiotics promote growth in animals is slim, while the costs of the antibiotics are significant. This may simply be a matter of education.
This study [nih.gov] is evidence that the net benefit of using antibiotics is negative:
"Positive production changes were associated with GPA use, but were insufficient to offset the cost of the antibiotics. The net effect of using GPAs was a lost value of $0.0093 per chicken (about 0.45% of total cost). "
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 2) by dry on Saturday February 03 2018, @03:48AM
People believe what they do and no amount of research seems to change peoples believes, at least if they have emotional investment in those believes.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Friday February 02 2018, @09:56PM (4 children)
Freon 12, mustard gas, lead in gasoline, asbestos, all of those things were short term economic (or military) expedients with globally agreed upon unacceptable side effects, and we've managed to mostly discontinue them... DDT and others not so much globally, but still in many places.
Antibiotics should be one of the next big reductions in use - out of agriculture and into humanitarian use for serious (non-self resolving) situations only.
In 2002 when my newborn had a slight fever, I really should have told my pediatrician to get stuffed when he prescribed a vial of antibiotic "just to be sure" that the fever would be sufficiently controlled to administer vaccines on the next visit - let's get our F'ing priorities straight here: your office schedule vs abuse of antibiotics?
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 4, Informative) by dry on Saturday February 03 2018, @03:55AM (2 children)
Same with when my dog cut her paw when young. Vet automatically prescribed antibiotics and at the time I went along with it. Truth was that without any signs of infection, it was a stupid thing to do.
Even not considering antibiotic resistance, giving unneeded antibiotics is stupid, fucks with the bodies biome at the minimum.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 03 2018, @04:46AM (1 child)
You could even have used antibiotics but presumably less (not sure) if you simply put on antibiotic ointment on it for 3 days once a day and kept it wrapped in some bandage.
(Score: 2) by dry on Saturday February 03 2018, @05:18AM
I doubt that it even needed that. She was young and healthy and it was a clean cut. Just needed to keep a close eye on it and if needed, then apply the antibiotics.
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Behindmyscreen on Saturday February 03 2018, @09:44PM
Um.....Infection can take hold and spread in a matter of hours in infants and death can follow before you get a chance to get them to the hospital. It was prudent of your doctor who knows a fuck lot more than you do.