"What Are Ethics When It Comes To ANTIBIOTICS?" by Grace F.

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A common question in agriculture today is what kind of antibiotics should be given to animals, and how much? More importantly, what is the spectrum of side effects for humans? Almost all accredited scientists agree that antibiotic use in agriculture has the potential to cause antibiotic resistance which could translate into humans developing the same antibiotic resistance. This could happen through direct contact between humans and animals, shared polluted environmental sources, such as contaminated water, and through consumption of plants/animals that have developed antibiotic resistance. According to a meta-analysis published in the medical research journal The Lancet, “Infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria result in increased mortality, morbidity, and social and economic costs.” This research synthesized evidence from 179 individual studies, showing that interventions that minimize antibiotic use in food-producing animals closely correspond with a decrease in pervasiveness of antibiotic resistance in these creatures.
Image: Pooled absolute risk differences of antibiotic resistance from meta-analysis of animal studies, by antibiotic drug class.
Lancet, November 2017

Why should we care? How will the world be forever altered if we don’t make a change? How could this radically affect our lives?


“By 2050, an estimated 10 million deaths per year will be attributable to antimicrobial resistance, with a cumulative economic cost of $100 trillion.”

This is from a medical research journal The Lancet, one of the most authoritative and long-standing voices in global medicine. They’re not joking around.

Dr. Lance Price, the founding director of the Antibiotic Resistance Action Center at George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health in Washington, D.C., and faculty member of the Translational Genomics Research Institute, studies the development of superbugs. He said during a 2017 TedxManhattan talk: “The most diabolical villain couldn’t design a better system for creating these septic superbugs than the modern CAFO: thousands of animals crammed together in filthy conditions, loads of bacteria living in and spreading between those animals, and the magic ingredient: a steady stream of low-dose antibiotics.” 7.7 million pounds of antibiotics are used in the U.S. hospitals, more than any country in the world; 29.9 million pounds of antibiotics are used in U.S. food animals, and only 20% of that is actually for sick animals - the rest of it is used as ‘production tools’ to grow animals faster and treat ‘production diseases‘ caused by the way animals are being raised: covered with and surrounded by bacteria-infested feces.


“If you’ve designed a system that requires a constant input of antibiotics to keep animals from getting sick, that system is BROKEN and needs to be redesigned [to fit the needs it was made to meet in the first place].” Our agriculture system is broken, and we need to fix it.

The World Health Organization has been working with the United Nations General Assembly to develop some solutions in response to the increasing public health concern about antibiotic resistance; so far, it’s been established that ameliorating sanitation and hygiene to reduce infection rates, and preventing the abuse of antibiotic use in both humans and animals are the best methods of prevention. To quote the Lancet study directly, “Interventions that restrict antibiotic use in food-producing animals are associated with a reduction in the presence of antibiotic-resistance bacteria in these animals.”
Works Cited

“Factory Farms, Antibiotics and Superbugs: Lance Price at TedxManhattan.”
Performance by Lance Price, Factory Farms, Antibiotics and Superbugs: Lance Price, Tedx Talks, 11 Mar. 2014, youtu.be/ZwHapgrF99A.

Ikerd, Dr. John. “Responses to CAFO Defenders' 20 Questions.” John Ikerd.com, 4
Nov. 2017, johnikerd.com/responses-to-20-frequently-asked-questions-by-defenders-of-cafos/.

Salud, Opinion y. “CTC: Comités Técnico Científicos Seguirán Hasta Abril.” Opinión y
Salud, 2 Mar. 2017, www.opinionysalud.com/ctc-comites-tecnico-cientificos-seguiran-abril/.

Tang, Karen L, et al. “Restricting the Use of Antibiotics in Food-Producing Animals and
Its Associations with Antibiotic Resistance in Food-Producing Animals and Human Beings: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis .” Lancet Planetary Health, World Health Organization, 6 Nov. 2017, www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS2542-5196(17)30141-9/fulltext

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