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Sunday, September 20th, 2015

Antibiotics Are Spreading Like Crazy—and a Lot of Them Are About to Stop Working

Author:     Gabrielle Canon
Source:     Mother Jones
Publication Date:     Sat Sep. 19, 2015 6:00 AM EDT
 Link: Antibiotics Are Spreading Like Crazy—and a Lot of Them Are About to Stop Working
Stephan:   In addition to the depredations of GMO pesticides like Roundup, industrial chemical corporate agriculture and animal husbandry is creating yet another crisis as this story spells out. I have been doing stories on the rise of the superbugs and the gathering collapse of antibiotic medicine for a decade now. The trend just grows worse each year, particularly in the U.S. where corporations exercise nearly total control over the Congress and, through the Congress, an unregulated revolving door employment policy. If researchers are to be believed, and I think they should be because they have actual facts, unless we change policies along the lines described in this article, the day is not far off when even simple illnesses will no longer yield to antibiotics.
Bacteria seen through an electron microscope.

Bacteria seen through an electron microscope.

In 1945, Sir Alexander Fleming won a Nobel Prize for his discovery of penicillin, which transformed modern medicine. Later that year, the bacteriologist issued a prescient warning: The miracle medicine could one day come with dangerous side effects. If antibiotics were overused, he told the New York Times, bacteria would develop resistance and spur a new generation of bugs impervious to the drugs’ power.

In the last 60 years, Fleming’s advice has gone largely unheeded. Antibiotic consumption continues to grow even as health officials around the world sound the alarm over rising numbers of resistant bacteria. Now, a new report from the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy (CDDEP), a multidisciplinary research organization, paints a harrowing picture of where we stand in the arms race against antibiotic resistance. The main finding is grim: Antibiotic consumption rose by 30 percent between 2000 and 2010 and is expected to swell further as demand for drugs and mass-produced meat products grow around […]

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