Antibiotics

OK, so this is the part where we stop and thread together a few pieces of information.

The use of antibiotics has lead to the development of more and more drug-resistant strains of our favorite microorganisms.  So, in modern human society, it would stand to reason that we should be rethinking our current application of antibiotics in the general population.  I think this is more or less happening as awareness of the misuse of antibiotics is really quite high.  I don’t think the medical establishment pretty much agrees on this.

It’s unfair to demonize antibiotics, though.  I think it’s more accurate to say that we, as a society, were largely ignorant of what we were doing.  Being more educated now, we can make different decisions, and, as a result, rectify past mistakes.  Besides, antibiotics save lives.  They decimate the microorganisms that result in disease when applied properly.  They make survival possible for people who might otherwise die from infection or disease.  In the very worst of situations, they allow humans to survive disgusting conditions that would otherwise kill them.  That’s what antibiotics do.

So, do you ever wonder why the meat that is served and sold to you “needs” to be grown with antibiotics?  Why are antibiotic-free meats an anomaly?  And why would dairy cattle need antibiotics?  How about egg-laying chickens?  How would farm animals become susceptible to wild, airborne diseases, anyway?  

The answer is simple.  Factory farmed animals are forced to live in such deplorable, disgusting conditions that the use of antibiotics is required to keep them alive.  Think about that.  And think about the fact that, although it turned out to be a false alarm, nobody in the scientific community found it hard to believe that the H1N1 flu virus might have originated on a pig farm in Mexico, a factory farm.  

Rampant antibiotic use.  Disease-friendly living conditions.  Plenty of animals to act as incubators for the next strain of drug-resistant microorganism.  I never liked meat THAT much.