Will the world’s addiction to industrial livestock production bring an end to the age of the “miracle drug?”
by Larry Powell - *Hog Watch Manitoba (Note: Asterisks link to references at bottom.) A pork processing plant in Neepawa, MB. Photo credit - HyLifeFoods. Antibiotics have been bestowing a world of good on the human condition ever since Alexander Fleming discovered the most famous one - penicillin - almost a century ago. Thanks to their ability to counter deadly infections, millions of lives have been saved - truly a turning point in the history of mankind. But, for some years now, clouds have been gathering. Numerous agencies, from the **World Health Organization (WHO) to our own ***Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), have been sounding similar alarm bells. All the wondrous benefits inherent in these life-saving medications may already be in jeopardy. As PHAC states on its website, “There’s increasing evidence that the use of antimicrobial agents in veterinary medicine and livestock production is an important contributing factor in the emergence of bacteria in people which h