One more story on germs

Growth promoters: If you can’t convince them, sue them

“The reason we’re filing suit now is because the antibiotic resistance crisis is reaching alarming proportions,” Avi Kar, NRDC’s health program attorney, told me. “In the face of the growing scientific evidence, FDA continues to focus almost exclusively on voluntary approaches such as those in the guidance currently under development. The coalition lawsuit is designed to get FDA to stop punting the issue and to finally take meaningful action.”

I can't prove it has any bearing, but when I stopped eating meat 20 years ago, I stopped getting strep throat, a condition so prevalent in my life that I went through my entire childhood with tonsils intact because they were never free from infection long enough to take them out, or so I've been told. After numerous infections into early adulthood, they suddenly stopped when I stopped eating the meat from animals routinely dosed with antibiotics to make them grow bigger and act as a prophylactic treatment to prevent illness. I also suspect that given the number of antibiotics I am allergic to, it's probably best I'm not exposed to them, although I don't know if it actually is passed on through the meat.

Trouble is, antibiotics, when used prophylactically like that, only help encourage antibiotic resistance in bacteria, because it exposes them to a variety of drugs, even when there is no active infection. This kills off the bacteria that are not resistant, leaving those that can evolve or cope with resistance. Since many of those same germs infect people, and many of those same antibiotics are used by people, it means we're reaping the rewards of these actions by having more difficulty fighting off infections in ourselves. In my mind, the practice of doping animals with antibiotics, along with our tendency to antiseptic everything (wipes in the grocery store for carts, lots of alcohol-containing gels, etc.), is doing a lot of harm. (And tangentially, studies also show that as our immune systems have less to fight off, there tends to be an increase in allergies and autoimmune disorders.)

Now I admit, I don't really know a lot about microbiology, besides a short college major in biology and some general reading, but the FDA should. And it (and Congress, which consistently quashes any attempts by the agency to flex their muscles concerning farming antibiotic use) should be doing something to prevent future issues. I don't think this lawsuit will particularly change the game, but it's an interesting approach.