Imagine a post-antibiotic world. A simple scratch or insect bite can become infected and send you to the hospital, or a mild respiratory infection can turn into a deadly pneumonia, and there are no medications to stop it. This scenario is not as far-fetched as it seems.
Increasingly, our antibiotics are not able to kill all bacterial infections because the bacteria are getting stronger due to “survival of the fittest.” The antibiotics kill off most of the bacteria, but the survivors adapt and become stronger. This, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is a “looming public health crisis.”
Public health officials have warned about misuse of antibiotics – over-prescription by health providers and careless use by patients. However, massive use of antibiotics by livestock producers to prevent illness and encourage growth in their animals is adding to the problem. And the use of antibiotics which are important to human health in animals makes the problem more serious.
In 2011, eighty percent of all antibiotics sold were for use in farm animals. From 2009 to 2013 sixty percent of those were “medically-important” drugs used in humans.
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a non-profit which works to protect wildlife and the environment, has been working to convince large food companies to use animal products raised without antibiotics. It has convinced Subway and Foster Farms, the largest chicken producer on the West Coast, to stop the use of human antibiotics. NRDC has also encouraged other food companies to do the same. Other successful actions include:
• Convincing some of the largest school districts in the country, involving 3 million students, to serve foods that are antibiotic free
• Succeeding in getting McDonald’s, Tyson Foods, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Costco and others to pledge to not use animal meats raised on antibiotics
• Helping to pass a law in California which would study the use of antimicrobials on farms and curb their use in animals.
More good news comes from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has declared that those antibiotics which are medically important to humans must be phased out by January 1, 2017. The FDA guidelines state that antibiotic use must be restricted to situations “that are considered necessary for assuring animal health.” The administration of antibiotics would be under the supervision of a veterinarian. They would only be used to prevent and control disease.
Cattle farmers have made research into antibiotics a number one priority. They are searching for substitutes, with probiotics and supplements as possibilities.
Public health officials have said that “antibiotic resistance is one of the leading human health threats of our time.” Through the work of the NRDC and similar groups, progress is being made.