3 ms·
As the article mentions, it's a very sketchy hypothesis that antibiotics help agricultural production by the mechanism of permitting survival in cheaper conditi
by sfink 5y ago
As the article mentions, it's a very sketchy hypothesis that antibiotics help agricultural production by the mechanism of permitting survival in cheaper conditions. Antibiotics actually seems to improve production for other, unknown reasons. We just assume that the mechanism must match the mechanism taken advantage of by antibiotics use in humans, but it looks like there's probably something else going on.
It might be as simple as the antibiotics shifting the balance in the gut towards bacteria that just happen to be more beneficial to rapid growth? That would be consistent with the thesis of this paper, where antibiotics are used naturally to encourage the growth of "compatible" organisms. I wonder exactly which antibiotics are used for agriculture -- if some antibiotics help and some hurt, that would support this hypothesis.
- maxerickson 5y agoA major category, ionophores, are used to help ruminants tolerate high grain diets. There's not really any mystery why that helps them grow of course.
- midjji 5y agoPig farms in the nordics are under strict animal wellfare regulations which are enforced effectively. Pig farmers also informally experiment with everything from breeding to feed and antibiotics in order to gain every advantage. As I heard it from an uncle in who raised piglets for decades. There is no visible health difference between two groups of piglets, one raised on antibiotics and one not. Its also worth mentioning that any piglet which gets any severe wound or infection is simply discarded, rather than treated. They still use antibiotics because the piglets on antibiotics gain substantially more weight from the same feed over the same time. In my uncles case, he stopped when the legal loophole closed. But the danes still do.