The FDA is putting the brakes on plans to regulate the consumption of antibiotics by healthy livestock raised for human consumption. The news was conveniently announced during the low news period between Christmas and New Years, despite the fact that the agency has been stalling on their decision since October. They gave no reason for its action, stating only that it intends to "focus its efforts for now on the potential for voluntary reform and the promotion of the judicious use of antimicrobials in the interest of public health."
Maybe it all goes back to high school science. Maybe the reason I'm sitting here, writing, with urgency about the importance of sustainability, is because over the past fifty to a hundred years, businesses, with a few notable exceptions, have spent too much time concentrating on Physics and Chemistry and not enough time on Biology (not to mention Earth Science).
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It is Biology, after all, that comprehends the web of connectedness that forms an ecosystem, the fundamental unit of our natural world. And it is our lack of attention to this web that has gotten us into so much trouble. Yet we have been running our world based largely on the laws of Physics and Chemistry, ignoring the laws of Biology at our peril. Today's story is a prime example.
The FDA is putting the brakes on plans to regulate the consumption of antibiotics by healthy livestock raised for human consumption. The news was conveniently announced during the low news period between Christmas and New Years, despite the fact that the agency has been stalling on their decision since October. They gave no reason for its action, stating only that it intends to "focus its efforts for now on the potential for voluntary reform and the promotion of the judicious use of antimicrobials in the interest of public health."
Scientists have understood the dangers of antibiotic resistance, also known as anti-microbial resistance (AMR), for quite some time. In fact, 70,000 people die in this country, every year, from infections such as MRSA that they acquire in the hospital from bugs that are resistant to drugs. Worldwide, more than twice that many people die each year from multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDRTB), alone.
Article continues: http://www.triplepundit.com/2012/01/fda-caves-lobbyists-antibiotics-putting-public-health-risk/
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