Superbug linked to antibiotic used on farms

[nosmokes]

this report is from Britain from the threat is world wide. as long as we permit and encourage industrial agriculture to flourish without any limitations other than the hopeful glance and a prayer that it won't kill anyone, continuing to treat animals as machines and the earth as a mechanical factory instead of an organic system, then these problems are only going to multiply.-nosmokes
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original-The Herald

Superbug linked to antibiotic used on farms

JAMES MORGAN December 23 2006

The use of antibiotics on farms should be reduced because of suspected links with a superbug in humans, an organic food group claimed yesterday.
A virulent strain of E-coli which has killed at least 57 people in the UK has been found on 10 cattle farms in the UK since 2004.
Meanwhile, human cases of the superbug are rising fast, according to Health Protection Scotland. In 1998, there were 28 cases of this type of E-coli in Scotland, but in 2005 the number rose to 1067.
The bacterium causes blood poisoning and urinary tract infections, and is potentially fatal to the elderly and hospital patients.
The strain produces enzymes called extended spectrum beta lactamases (ESBLs) which stop many drugs working, including penicillin.
Most people contract ESBL in hospital, but concerns have been raised that the infection may spread through meat and milk products.
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complete article here

[in_cog_ni_to]

1. I'm becoming a Vegetarian. I've had enough of this crap.

Now, I just need to learn to like Soy Milk and Tofu :puke:...I just ordered a bunch of Vegetarian and Tofu cookbooks. I hope they will make the stuff palatable for me. The Soy Milk I've had is OK. I just need to get past the 'different' than milk taste and I'll be alright. Chocolate Soy milk is actually pretty good.

The cloned cow meat story did it for me. I don't want to eat ANYTHING cloned or genetically modified. I refuse to and unless I am GUARANTEED it's not modified, I'm not eating it and neither is my son.

[SmokingJacket]

3. I'm not a total vegan or anything, but I LOVE tofu scrambles!

I'm sure you can find a good recipe somewhere -- onions, tofu, turmeric, green peppers, alls steaming hot wrapped in a tortilla.

It's like the best reason to become a vegetarian.

[in_cog_ni_to]

6. Thanks! Sounds pretty good!

My Tofu experience has been bad. Just the look and feel (slimy) turns me off, but I've been reading about how to dry it out before cooking it (removing the water helps the Tofu to absorb seasonings and flavors?) and I think I may be able to get past that one now.;) I'm a squeamish eater, but if I can eat escargot, I can eat Tofu! I KNOW I can.. I'll definitely try the Tofu scramble!

[nosmokes]

7. you don't need to forgo meat completely

eat less of it, and buy it from a local organic/ sustainable producer. sure the price is higher, but you can mitigate that by working w/ the farmer and seeing what sort of deals s/he has. usually you can buy a half or a quarter of a steer cut and freezer wrapped for a vwery reasonable price, and if you split that with another family or two it's not an overwhelming amount of beef coming at you all at once. and the quality and taste of free ranged organic beef is so far superior to anything that comes out of an industrial agriculture setting it's like eating a whole new product. and start thinking of meat as a flavoring instead of the *main* dish. for instance, you can make a hearty sauce /gravy w/ a knuckle bone or two and spoon it over rice or noodles and have a great meal!

local and organic is probably one of the best things you can do for the environment as well.

[pansypoo53219]

8. or kosher

i won't eat supermarket meat. i go to a respected butcher. even had fresh turkey this year.
i don't think i could do tofu.

[MountainLaurel]

2. Raise your hand if you're surprised by this

*crickets chirping*

[FogerRox]

4. Errrrrrrrrrr like Lurch... KNR

[originalpckelly]

5. Actually, that's about the only way this could have happened.

A regular high dose of antibiotics will kill off the bacteria they are used to fight. Over prescription would have killed off the bacteria, because it was at the full dosage.

However, small trace amounts of antibiotics (in milk and meat) will weed out less resistant bacteria, leaving the most resistant behind. Progressively, this process continued, until there were bacteria resistant to the full dosage of a given antibiotic.

So actually, I highly doubt the education campaign amongst medical professionals to use antibiotics sparingly isn't really addressing the real root cause of this.

The only thing which could do that is the cessation of using antibiotics in farming to bump up the production rate of meat.

[TexasProgresive]

9. It is rampant anti-biotic use in combination with high grain diets

that really is causing the problem. e-coli which exists in the lower gut normally cannot survive the high acid of the stomach. These cows are feed high grain diets that lead to chronic lactic acidosis (sp) and the e-coli has adapted becoming resistant to our stomach acid. Then the e-coli gets into our small intestine and the result is toxins in the blood and possibly death.