Response to "Big Agriculture Creating a New Generation of Antibiotic-Resistant Superbugs

Antibiotics are often used in farm animals due to the belief that they reduce risk of the animals getting sick and helps to create larger animal. This constant use of antibiotics is believed to now be "accelerating the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, or bacteria that is now unaffected by our common antibiotics. However, these antibiotics don't just stay in the animals. They eventually end up in the soil when deposited in manure. According to a recent study, this regular deposit of antibiotics in the soil of farmland is growing these "super bacteria" in the same soil in which we grow a lot of our agricultural products. 

You may be asking yourself how this could possibly apply to you. In reality, this problem could affect all of us. Due to the fact that we are practically training these bacteria to become resistant to our antibiotics, this puts not only the animals at risk, but also ourselves. A common bacteria found in meat is E. Coli. If we keep this up, and the antibiotics we are feeding these animals stop working, it puts us at serious risk of contracting bacterial diseases and infections. An'd it's not just meat either. Like mentioned before, it's affecting the soil and agricultural products we grow as well.

Now you're probably wondering if there's a way to help this problem. This is where it gets tricky. The antibiotics were originally needed to help stop the spread of bacteria such as E. coli, but now it's almost helping it. So it comes down to the question as to whether it's worth it. If we could find another thing, such as a hormone, that could result in larger animals without the negative side effects that an antibiotic brings, we might have a solution. However, if we went with this route, we once again come across the risk of the bacteria still being able to live in the animals. We have to find a healthy balance.

http://www.naturalnews.com/038312_antibiotic_resistance_superbugs_Big_Agriculture.html