BioQuakes

AP Biology class blog for discussing current research in Biology

Animal Overdose and Its Effect on Humans

As we all know, antibiotics can be used to cure infections and kill bacteria, but the also often come with the many side effects that the infomercials so quickly warn us of. However, we often overlook aspects of antibiotics and rely on them to heal us in a variety of ways.

This then causes too much reliance on antibiotics, and in fact, humans are becoming immune to these medicines and too much use takes from their ability to have positive results.

This displays the alignment of veal that has been modified and undergone treatment to fight possiblebacteria.

This displays the alignment of veal that has been modified and undergone treatment to fight possible bacteria.

Animals have been receiving harsh treatment and experience weight gain as a result of being given antibiotics for growth promotion in order to sell more meat without disease.  However, animals experience the same resistance over time. The Environmental Working Group is concerned about this, because most of the meat sold in grocery stores is made up of a large amount of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This, too, can easily be passed on to humans by consumption, as the Food and Drug Administration states.

Due to this resistance to antibiotics and its misuse, many are concerned that the amount of antibiotics served to both humans and animals needs to be lowered, which is much easier said than done. The ultimate goal would be to continue to fight bacteria as opposed to promoting its resistance, as one would assume. However, it is interesting to know how large of an affect antibiotics have on both the human and animal reactions in their bodily systems, and how misuse can alter the bacteria as well as the reason for their need.

Article Link:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-are-the-consequences-of-antibiotic-overuse/

Additional Links:

http://www.cdc.gov/narms/animals.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/meat/safe/overview.html

http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm378100.htm

Image Link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veal#mediaviewer/File:MIN_Rungis_viandes_de_boucherie_veau.jpg

 

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2 Comments

  1. pintocytosis

    Interesting article gherloniapparatus! It is so interesting and worrisome that the companies that produce our food pump the animals with various drugs and antibiotics. Although usually approved by the FDA, the meats that make it to our shelves contain a large amount of these somewhat harmful bacteria, as you stated in your article. It seems some companies have an issue with the possible side effects that this kind of meat can have on people, and have refused to serve meat to their customers that has been “overdosed” with antibiotics. Chipotle, a popular mexican grill has announced that some of their restaurants will not have pork on the menu because they cut ties with one of their suppliers. They stopped using this company because they were pumping the animals with antibiotics, which Chipotle doesn’t want.
    You can find Chipotle’s press release about this issue here: http://www.chipotle.com/en-us/fwi/animals/animals.aspx

  2. gigabytes

    This is a very important and interesting topic. By messing with our food supply chain, food corporations are cutting corners to make their products more profitable and larger without measuring the consequences on our health. I’ve noticed that this recent controversy has sparked a new trend among food producers, switching over to certified “antibiotic-free” meats. http://www.wsj.com/articles/meat-companies-go-antibiotics-free-as-more-consumers-demand-it-1415071802?autologin=y. Unfortunately they are making the switch due to a consumer niche and not because they genuinely care about the quality of the nation’s health. It should be interesting to see the continued research in this field, and hopefully our nation will start to lessen the over-usage of antibiotics and work to destroy them instead.

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