Antibiotics Are Chemicals Produced By Humans And Livestock

In this brief, the reader will see the pros and cons in antibiotic livestock. They will see commonly misunderstandings about antibiotics and facts. Throughout the paper the reader will see what long term and short term problems and benefits in livestock. In this research paper it will be covering antibiotics resistance and also how antibiotics it has changed the face of medicine.

In order to determine which ones would be resistant, intermediate, and susceptible to our unknown strain of E. coli we had three antibiotics and one control per agar plate, and we replicated this twice. A lawn of the E. coli strand was spread evenly on each agar plate with a cotton swab. We then divided the agar plate into four halves and placed an antibiotic sample in each half with forceps. We incubated the dishes for forty-eight hours. Our independent variables are the different types of antibiotics with our known and unknown E. coli that we used to conduct the experiment and our dependent variables are the diameters of the zone of inhibition for each antibiotic.

In order to eliminate the use of antibiotics in animal feed, farmers and meat corporations should practice free range animal raising. Free range practice is when animals are fed outdoors, and roam outdoors freely, rather than being confined in an enclosed and in a cult for 24 hours 7 days a week. Dr. Marcos Rostagno wrote in the Livestock behavior Research Unit article that illnesses and diseases are linked to stress and overcrowded environments (Rostagno 1). Infact, overcrowding and very large numbers of animals make disease transmission easier and the mutation of pathogens to become more lethal (Turner 25). When practicing free range animal rising hygiene in animal and environment will improve, and disease spread will decrease, causing the use of antibiotics be

Modern-day advances have allowed scientists to develop methods to control pathogens. The more common methods include the use of antiseptics, antibiotics, and vaccines. By definition, antiseptics are chemicals used to kill pathogens. A few widespread antiseptics include soap, vinegar, and rubbing alcohol. Antiseptics are primarily used for the external destruction of pathogens, while antibiotics and vaccines target internal pathogens. Nevertheless, there are and can be difficulties concerning the use of antibiotics. “As antibiotic use has become more common, antibiotic-resistant bacteria have evolved.” This resistance due to evolution is called antibiotic resistance. It results in the antibiotics having no effect whatsoever on the bacteria, rendering the antibiotics useless. When antibiotic resistance occurs, scientists must resume their search to create a new medicine to can kill the mutant bacteria.

Industrial farms use antibiotics in animal feed and water to prevent disease in farm animals. Many farms use antibiotics before an infection has even occurred.

In recent years, Americans have been blaming antibiotics used in animals to be processed for food for many of the growing number of health problems in developed countries. Fast food restaurants are making movements to remove antibiotic treated meats from their menus. This movement is causing quite the stir in consumers and livestock producers alike. Do the antibiotics used in beef really contribute to antibiotic resistant diseases? Should antibiotics be outlawed in the use of farm animals? The eradication of antibiotic use in America’s beef industry is not feasible due to its usage in the treatment and control of deadly or discomforting diseases.

The main threat for the overuse of antibiotics are the creation of antibiotic resistant microbes, or more commonly called superbugs. Antibiotics are used to kill mass amounts of bacteria, but they cannot kill all of them. Some bacteria still survive, so they will reproduce and pass their genes down to their offspring. The offspring will now have their parents genes, which includes being resistant to a certain type of antibiotic. Tom Philpott, an award winning writer about food politics, explained, “And the worst part is that antibiotics use in factory farms is not mostly matter of keeping animals healthy.” Philpott is saying farmers mostly use antibiotics to promote faster growth and not to treat sickness. American Cyanamid, a pharmaceutical company, tested animals with vitamin B12 to see if they grew faster. The animals saw significant weight gain, and more experiments were tested. What American Cyanamid found was the antibiotic in vitamin B12 was actually causing the weight gain. This discovery led to mass amounts of antibiotics being used in animals. In 1950, before the discovery, there were 1.6 million chicken farms raising a total of about 560 million chickens. 28 years later, 3 billion chickens were being hatched in about 31,000 large farms (Philpott). The discovery led to mass expansion of farms, because animals were able to grow faster and bigger, so farms took advantage. Factory farms have been overusing

Public Health Nutrition state, "Antibiotics at subtherapeutic levels, as well as arsenic and other metal compounds, are used in animal feeds to promote growth of the animals in IAP" (Walker, Rhubart-Berg, et. al.). The animals health is promoted and they grow faster. Timothy Landers states, "The potential threat to human health resulting from inappropriate antibiotic use in food animals is significant..." The threat towards the consumer is greater when chemicals are used to promote the animal's health, Furthermore, Consumer Reports presented, "Humans are at risk both due to potential presence of superbugs in meat and poultry, and to the general migration of superbugs into the environment, where they can transmit their genetic immunity to antibiotics to other bacteria, including bacteria that make people sick” (Consumer Reports). Although used for a good cause, superbugs can be created and bred where they can eventually infect the consumer. Even though antibiotics promote the health of the animal it causes a huge health risk to the consumer and

When you hear the word antibiotic, what do you think? It’s what all the doctors give us, so it has to be safe, right? What if I were to tell you that antibiotics could be the reason for more sickness, would you believe me? No, antibiotics themselves are not making us sick, their effect on bacteria and disease is what is. Antibiotics are used to cure disease, control symptoms, and prevent anything from happening in the first place. But, in the agricultural society, antibiotics are often used to get quicker growth and more efficient weight gain of their livestock. This is where the antibiotic controversy stems from. Some feel that antibiotic use in food animals is a major cause for antibiotic resistance, and should there for stop being used for unnecessary purposes. Whereas the other end, more neutral side, claims that regulated necessary antibiotics must be used to ensure the health of the animals and consumers.

To understand the functions of antibiotic and antimicrobial use in the food industry one must consider how antibiotics became incorporated in the industry over the past few decades. Antibiotic use erupted during WWII where they were developed at a large scale to control human infections. This mixed in with the high demand for food during the war lead to antibiotics becoming economically advantages for use on farm animals. During the 1940s research labs conducted experiments to examine the effects of antibiotics administered to food animals. These experiment lead to findings of antibiotics being used to treat diseases in animals. Due to the high demand of food for the war antibiotics were used as nutrition for animals to supplement the plant-based

For many years factory farms have been using antibiotics to promote faster growth and prevent disease that could sicken livestock held in confinements (Dillon). Even though they are putting antibiotics into the livestock when they are healthy they, instead of getting sick from it, actually grow faster letting the farmer produce more livestock in the same amount of time then they could without giving them antibiotics thus making the meat for the consumer cheaper with the same qualities as before.

Possible solutions for resistance in the future are to find new antibiotics in niches besides soil, such as the marine environment as globalization and deforestation make new soil discoveries harder each day. Educating people about resistance to prevent misuse is important as well because not everybody knows about the growing resistance problem. If people know about the resistance problem, proper use of antibiotics would increase. Antibiotics today are easily accessible without the need of prescription in most cases, leading to the wrong self-diagnosis based on observation instead of actual tests. Creating more regulations to ensure prescriptions and correct diagnosis will help with the misuse of antibiotics. Stopping their use as growth hormones in agriculture will also help because the antibiotics from the plants and animals are able to unnecessarily get into a person’s body, which promotes more antibiotic resistance since the dosages are not consistent. As the antibiotics pass through the livestock and people, they contaminate the water system. The antibiotic resistance today does not necessarily mean the end of antibiotics as long as

Antibiotics have played an essential role in the fight against diseases and infections since the 1940’s. Antibiotics are a leading cause for the rise of global average life expectancy in the 20th and 21st century. They have greatly reduced illnesses and deaths due to diseases. With the introductions of antibiotics in the 1940’s, like penicillin into clinical practice, formally deadly illnesses became immediately curable and saved thousands of lives (Yim 2006). Antibiotic use has been beneficial and when prescribed and taken correctly their effects on patients are exceedingly valuable. However, because these drugs have been used so widely and for such a long period of time the bacteria that the antibiotics are designed to kill have adapted,

When walking down the grocery store aisles, most shoppers do not pause to think about the issues that may arise from the antibiotics used in animals (the meat they will buy and consume). Antibiotics have been used in farm animals for decades, but now there has arisen a controversy regarding how these antibiotics effect people (consuming the livestock that has been treated with antibiotics) and the animals (that have been treated) themselves. Many researchers believe that the use of antibiotics on animals is causing antibiotics resistance in both the animals that are being treated, and the humans who eventually eat the meat produced. But the use of antibiotics has come a long way since it was first discovered. Progress is important but safety is a priority in food production.

The emergence of resistance in bacteria is primarily related to human and agricultural use of natural and synthetic antibiotics. Most antibiotics aren’t full metabolised and together with resistant bacteria are excreted where they can reach sewage systems and wastewater treatment plants. (Luczkiewicz et al., 2011). Standard wastewater treatment conventions have not been shown to be fully effective in reducing the number of resistant bacteria. Unfortunately, some have been shown to positively select for resistant isolates. (Luczkiewicz et al., 2011). Current treatments in developed countries are quite