How Much Do Antibiotics Used on the Farm Contribute to the Spread of Resistant Bacteria?

Par4,

“The routine use of antibiotics in food animals presents a serious and growing threat to human health because it creates new strains of dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria,” says Pew.

That's a big part of the problem. Here's another (big) part:

Those farm antibiotics end up in our water supply. They come from cattle, pig, and chicken farms, from fish hatcheries, and even from other people. And they aren't the only drugs in our water. From the AP:

Here are some of the key test results obtained by the AP:

• Officials in Philadelphia said testing there discovered 56 pharmaceuticals or byproducts in treated drinking water, including medicines for pain, infection, high cholesterol, asthma, epilepsy, mental illness and heart problems. Sixty-three pharmaceuticals or byproducts were found in the city’s watersheds.
• Anti-epileptic and anti-anxiety medications were detected in a portion of the treated drinking water for 18.5 million people in Southern California.
• Researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey analyzed a Passaic Valley Water Commission drinking water treatment plant, which serves 850,000 people in Northern New Jersey, and found a metabolized angina medicine and the mood-stabilizing carbamazepine in drinking water.
• Three medications, including an antibiotic, were found in drinking water supplied to Tucson, Ariz.

The situation is undoubtedly worse than suggested by the positive test results in the major population centers documented by the AP.

Watershed areas are even more contaminated. There's much more at the link:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23503485/ns/health-health_care/

This is a serious issue, and I'm glad to see you raising it. We have no idea what long-term, low-dose exposure will do to us.

But certainly in the case of antibiotics, it can't be good.

Another excellent seed.