federal task force to aim toward reducing antibiotic use

[jan251]

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/white-house-unveils-plan-fight-antibiotic-resistant-germs-29947921

 

He said he hopes his plan will create a system to show real-time rates of antibiotic use and where cases of drug resistance are being reported. "If we can see where these drugs are being over-prescribed, we can target our interventions where they're needed most."

See where the drugs are being prescribed? What does "over-prescribed" mean?

 

What interventions?

 

And yet:

"Once again, the administration has fallen woefully short of taking meaningful action to curb the overuse of antibiotics in healthy food animals," said New York Democratic Rep. Louise Slaughter, a microbiologist who has sponsored legislation to stop routine antibiotic use in animal farming.

 

"With 80 percent of the antibiotics produced in the United States being used in agriculture mostly for prevention, any meaningful solution to the looming antibiotic resistance crisis must begin with limits on the farm — and trusting a voluntary policy that lets industry police itself will not bring about real change," she said.

 

Animals have greater access to antibiotics than humans?

Edited March 27, 2015 by jan251

[MaryAW]

Yet another reason to opt for organic. Sounds like they need to worry about the farm animals before they worry about our kids - if that's your concern.

[rowingmom]

The development of antibiotic resistance may not simply be due to the overuse of antibiotics.

 

http://naturalsociety.com/new-study-monsantos-herbicides-are-breeding-super-bugs/

 

“Increasingly common chemicals…can induce a multiple-antibiotic resistance phenotype in potential pathogens. The effect occurs upon simultaneous exposure to antibiotics and is faster than the lethal effect of antibiotics. The magnitude of the induced response may undermine antibiotic therapy and substantially increase the probability of spontaneous mutation to higher levels of resistance.

The combination of high use of both herbicides and antibiotics in proximity to farm animals and important insects, such as honeybees, might also compromise their therapeutic effects and drive greater use of antibiotics. To address the crisis of antibiotic resistance requires broadening our view of environmental contributors to the evolution of resistance.”

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/03/28/monsanto-sustainable-agriculture-company.aspx

 

Right on the heels of the IARC’s reclassification of glyphosate as a Class 2 carcinogen, another breakthrough study published in the peer-reviewed journal mBio on March 24 ties Monsanto’s weedkiller to antibiotic resistance.

 

According to this study, sublethal doses of Roundup (the actual formulation of Roundup, not just glyphosate in isolation) alter disease-causing bacteria's response to commonly used antibiotics, including tetracycline and ciprofloxacin, thereby raising resistance to drugs used in medicine. As reported by Rodale News:

“The way Roundup causes this effect is likely by causing the bacteria to turn on a set of genes that are normally off, [study author] Heinemann says. "These genes are for 'pumps' or 'porins,' proteins that pump out toxic compounds or reduce the rate at which they get inside of the bacteria...

Once these genes are turned on by the herbicide, then the bacteria can also resist antibiotics. If bacteria were to encounter only the antibiotic, they would instead have been killed.

[nicklemama]

Reminds me of those famous words " we are from the govt and we are here to help you". Scary.