6 ms·

World's rivers 'awash with dangerous levels of antibiotics'

77 points by punnerud 7y ago

Arbalest 7y ago
Antibiotic resistance is the medical equivalent of Climate Change. It hasn't gotten anywhere as much exposure as climate change though, and even with the amount climate change has gotten, it still isn't seeing enough action. I just wish I could be more optimistic about the whole situation, but decades of advertising in cleanliness conflating clean with germ free is coming back to bite us. Both from antibacterial agents for infections, and more generally for surface cleaners.
- politician 7y ago
  Apparently factory farms (i.e. chickens, pigs, turkey, cows, etc.) are the largest abusers of antibiotics. > Of all antibiotics sold in the United States, approximately 80% are sold for use in animal agriculture; about 70% of these are “medically important” (i.e., from classes important to human medicine). Antibiotics are administered to animals in feed to marginally improve growth rates and to prevent infections ... Antibiotics Overuse in Animal Agriculture: A Call to Action for Health Care Providers https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4638249/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4638249/
  - WorldMaker 7y ago
    Factory farms are also on the lists of biggest sometimes overlooked contributors to climate change. It's feels a lot like there needs to be major agriculture reform.
- alkonaut 7y ago
  1. Don't buy meat from anywhere where Antibiotics is used in healthy animals. 2. Vote to ban the practice. There is no step 3.
  - _iyig 7y ago
    3. Lobby for an effective ban in countries like China, where antibiotics are widely used (especially in aquaculture) and the law as written isn’t always enforced. This is one of those border-hopping problems which, like CFC emissions, may require external pressure for some countries to address.
    - lucideer 7y ago
      While I'm not suggesting not lobbying for an effective ban in China, this comment seems to make China out to be almost a sole offender. Antibiotics are widely used in most countries, particularly in the US, and even in Europe (despite the EU ban on usage for growth purposes). Their usage is increasing at scary rates in China, Brazil, etc., but that doesn't discount that it's still very high in western nations.
      - alkonaut 7y ago
        Agreed. This has improved recently in the EU: the EU law was given significantly more teeth less than a year ago (should be in force within 2 years now). Let's hope the EU will actually enforce it. The new law also bans imports to the EU, so if it's followed it's almost exactly what I'm asking for (ban of routine use + import ban). https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/oct/25/european-parliament-approves-curbs-on-use-of-antibiotics-on-farm-animals https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/oct/25/european-par... (Law voted through 2018, with 3 years introduction. Hopefully use will decline before that to comply before it becomes law) This needs to happen in the US as well. China is a big exporter so even if there is no domestic pressure, import bans should make a difference.
      - _iyig 7y ago
        Yes, totally agreed. China was just top-of-mind after the recent news about CFC-detecting satellites, the publication of their results, and the authorities’ subsequent remedial action.
      - A2017U1 7y ago
        Who exactly is buying meat from China also? From my time in Vietnam the locals I knew shunned Chinese meat imports and recommended not buying it even though it was slightly cheaper, many simply don't trust it and there was a few scandals.
- beenBoutIT 7y ago
  The noise we're hearing about climate change now is just marketing, there's no possible way of reversing it short of artificially creating a devastating nuclear winter type scenario. Hopefully the problems with antibiotics never get to that point.
jedberg 7y ago
See here is my conundrum. I have some antibiotics that my son didn't use. I need to dispose of it. The CDC actually suggests flushing it down the toilet, because it's better in the water supply than being accidentally ingested. This feels wrong to me, but the CDC says to do it...
- zeristor 7y ago
  In the UK one is requested to return unused medicine to the pharmacist. I’ve never actually done this
  - jfk13 7y ago
    In my experience this is trivial to do; just hand it in at the pharmacy counter. Never had an issue with it.
- domas 7y ago
  Why not bring it back to pharmacy? In UK and other EU countries pharmacies collect and have ways to dispose of medical waste. Same goes for the shops that sell alkaline batteries - they have special waste bins for disposing of used ones.
- BlackFly 7y ago
  You shouldn't be in that situation. Antibiotics are not supposed to be discretionary medicine that you take until you feel better. Your son should have finished the prescription. Stopping antibiotics prematurely is one of the ways that antibiotic resistant bacteria develop.
  - jazoom 7y ago
    Source: I prescribe antibiotics This situation is legitimate. Example: I prescribe you 5 days of trimethoprim for a urinary tract infection. It's 1 tablet per day. It comes in a box of 7. You can do the maths. Edit: and as others have suggested, if patients ask me what to do with extra meds of any kind I suggest they take them to the pharmacy.
  - 7y ago
RappingBoomer 7y ago
I am suspicious of hype/scare articles like this one...smells too much like manufacturing consent for more laws to restrict the ability of americans to go around the laws enacted by the healthcare cartel via congress...all in order to increase wall st profits... yes, I am aware of the dangers of antibiotics no longer being effective because of overuse etc...but I don't know how much of that is media propaganda being paid for by some medical cartel...most everything in america/the West is shaped by and influenced by corporate propaganda put out by the media...this article and similar articles smell like media propaganda that is designed to scare people and manufacture consent for yet more laws from congress to control the ability of the people to go out and buy some drugs to help them live longer... I don't trust the media because it is bought and paid for with corporate advertising dollars...I don't trust the medical cartel because they increase profits by restricting our freedom to buy medical care and buy drugs...the medical cartel and media and congress effectively conspire to extort americans for healthcare and drugs that help them live longer...that is how they get rich and we get poorer... I don't trust congress because they are bought and paid for by the corporations and they dance to the tune of the corporate media... I will say what nobody else on this thread dares to say--that this article is quite possibly propaganda bought by the medical cartel...and that this article is one of many such articles...
- empath75 7y ago
  I have personally met someone who nearly died and is going to be in a wheel chair for the rest of his life because he stepped on a lego and the wound was infected by MRSA. The infection spread into his bones and blood supply before they managed to stop it. That’s the future that we’re headed for if we don’t get it under control — a world where you can die from accidentally stepping on a toy.
  - RappingBoomer 7y ago
    and with anecdotes like that one, the corporations can lock down all medications and supplements tighter than a drum...you carrying aspirin on you without a prescription? That's a felony, mandatory life sentence...i am too old to be fooled by these media hypestorms...seen it too many times...

77 points by punnerud 7y ago

Antibiotic resistance is the medical equivalent of Climate Change. It hasn't gotten anywhere as much exposure as climate change though, and even with the amount climate change has gotten, it still isn't seeing enough action. I just wish I could be more optimistic about the whole situation, but decades of advertising in cleanliness conflating clean with germ free is coming back to bite us. Both from antibacterial agents for infections, and more generally for surface cleaners.

politician 7y ago
Apparently factory farms (i.e. chickens, pigs, turkey, cows, etc.) are the largest abusers of antibiotics. > Of all antibiotics sold in the United States, approximately 80% are sold for use in animal agriculture; about 70% of these are “medically important” (i.e., from classes important to human medicine). Antibiotics are administered to animals in feed to marginally improve growth rates and to prevent infections ... Antibiotics Overuse in Animal Agriculture: A Call to Action for Health Care Providers https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4638249/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4638249/
- WorldMaker 7y ago
  Factory farms are also on the lists of biggest sometimes overlooked contributors to climate change. It's feels a lot like there needs to be major agriculture reform.
alkonaut 7y ago
1. Don't buy meat from anywhere where Antibiotics is used in healthy animals. 2. Vote to ban the practice. There is no step 3.
- _iyig 7y ago
  3. Lobby for an effective ban in countries like China, where antibiotics are widely used (especially in aquaculture) and the law as written isn’t always enforced. This is one of those border-hopping problems which, like CFC emissions, may require external pressure for some countries to address.
  - lucideer 7y ago
    While I'm not suggesting not lobbying for an effective ban in China, this comment seems to make China out to be almost a sole offender. Antibiotics are widely used in most countries, particularly in the US, and even in Europe (despite the EU ban on usage for growth purposes). Their usage is increasing at scary rates in China, Brazil, etc., but that doesn't discount that it's still very high in western nations.
    - alkonaut 7y ago
      Agreed. This has improved recently in the EU: the EU law was given significantly more teeth less than a year ago (should be in force within 2 years now). Let's hope the EU will actually enforce it. The new law also bans imports to the EU, so if it's followed it's almost exactly what I'm asking for (ban of routine use + import ban). https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/oct/25/european-parliament-approves-curbs-on-use-of-antibiotics-on-farm-animals https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/oct/25/european-par... (Law voted through 2018, with 3 years introduction. Hopefully use will decline before that to comply before it becomes law) This needs to happen in the US as well. China is a big exporter so even if there is no domestic pressure, import bans should make a difference.
    - _iyig 7y ago
      Yes, totally agreed. China was just top-of-mind after the recent news about CFC-detecting satellites, the publication of their results, and the authorities’ subsequent remedial action.
    - A2017U1 7y ago
      Who exactly is buying meat from China also? From my time in Vietnam the locals I knew shunned Chinese meat imports and recommended not buying it even though it was slightly cheaper, many simply don't trust it and there was a few scandals.
beenBoutIT 7y ago
The noise we're hearing about climate change now is just marketing, there's no possible way of reversing it short of artificially creating a devastating nuclear winter type scenario. Hopefully the problems with antibiotics never get to that point.

jedberg 7y ago

See here is my conundrum. I have some antibiotics that my son didn't use. I need to dispose of it. The CDC actually suggests flushing it down the toilet, because it's better in the water supply than being accidentally ingested. This feels wrong to me, but the CDC says to do it...

zeristor 7y ago
In the UK one is requested to return unused medicine to the pharmacist. I’ve never actually done this
- jfk13 7y ago
  In my experience this is trivial to do; just hand it in at the pharmacy counter. Never had an issue with it.
domas 7y ago
Why not bring it back to pharmacy? In UK and other EU countries pharmacies collect and have ways to dispose of medical waste. Same goes for the shops that sell alkaline batteries - they have special waste bins for disposing of used ones.
BlackFly 7y ago
You shouldn't be in that situation. Antibiotics are not supposed to be discretionary medicine that you take until you feel better. Your son should have finished the prescription. Stopping antibiotics prematurely is one of the ways that antibiotic resistant bacteria develop.
- jazoom 7y ago
  Source: I prescribe antibiotics This situation is legitimate. Example: I prescribe you 5 days of trimethoprim for a urinary tract infection. It's 1 tablet per day. It comes in a box of 7. You can do the maths. Edit: and as others have suggested, if patients ask me what to do with extra meds of any kind I suggest they take them to the pharmacy.
- 7y ago

RappingBoomer 7y ago

I am suspicious of hype/scare articles like this one...smells too much like manufacturing consent for more laws to restrict the ability of americans to go around the laws enacted by the healthcare cartel via congress...all in order to increase wall st profits... yes, I am aware of the dangers of antibiotics no longer being effective because of overuse etc...but I don't know how much of that is media propaganda being paid for by some medical cartel...most everything in america/the West is shaped by and influenced by corporate propaganda put out by the media...this article and similar articles smell like media propaganda that is designed to scare people and manufacture consent for yet more laws from congress to control the ability of the people to go out and buy some drugs to help them live longer... I don't trust the media because it is bought and paid for with corporate advertising dollars...I don't trust the medical cartel because they increase profits by restricting our freedom to buy medical care and buy drugs...the medical cartel and media and congress effectively conspire to extort americans for healthcare and drugs that help them live longer...that is how they get rich and we get poorer... I don't trust congress because they are bought and paid for by the corporations and they dance to the tune of the corporate media... I will say what nobody else on this thread dares to say--that this article is quite possibly propaganda bought by the medical cartel...and that this article is one of many such articles...

empath75 7y ago
I have personally met someone who nearly died and is going to be in a wheel chair for the rest of his life because he stepped on a lego and the wound was infected by MRSA. The infection spread into his bones and blood supply before they managed to stop it. That’s the future that we’re headed for if we don’t get it under control — a world where you can die from accidentally stepping on a toy.
- RappingBoomer 7y ago
  and with anecdotes like that one, the corporations can lock down all medications and supplements tighter than a drum...you carrying aspirin on you without a prescription? That's a felony, mandatory life sentence...i am too old to be fooled by these media hypestorms...seen it too many times...