Factory Farms Sow Superbugs

Imagine a world where a scraped knee on a playground could have deadly complications. A world where chemotherapy and radiation are less effective cancer treatments because of increasingly common post-treatment infections, or where lifesaving drugs we regularly rely on today no longer heal people.  Unfortunately, those hypothetical dangers are quickly becoming real: the rise of antibiotic-resistant bugs threaten to render extremely vital drugs all but useless, often with deadly results. Yet, if we act together we can find a solution to this real and present threat.

In its recent report on antimicrobial resistance, the World Health Organization (WHO) said: “A post-antibiotic era in which common infections and minor injuries can kill — far from being an apocalyptic fantasy — is instead a very real possibility for the 21st Century.”  The WHO report is just the latest in a string of increasingly dire warnings from the medical community. Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said: “If we are not careful, we will soon be in a post-antibiotic era, and for some patients and some microbes, we are already there.”

Already, two million Americans fall ill every year from antibiotic-resistant infections, and according to the CDC, 23,000 of them die from those infections annually. Public health experts are in agreement: if we don’t act, the problem will only worsen.  Experts warn that treatable diseases like pneumonia, meningitis, and tuberculosis may once again become untreatable...