On the 15th of this month in Jeju province, prohibited antibiotics were detected in eggs from the local poultry farmhouse. So far five farms were identified with the antibiotics after government agent of Jeju province tested all of the farms. Local government has discarded 400,000 eggs from its farms since Feb. 18. The antibiotics were detected because of the immunity-enhancing agent supplied by local government introduced to the egg farm last December. The amount of immune enhancer distributed to 27 farms is about 400kg. The local government of Jeju explained that the product was approved by experts and farmers for the prevention of avian influenza.
And many experts point out that the problem of food safety was not the only concern here. They were also worried about the fact that the number of antibiotics that the farmhouse would have released if the number of antibiotics in the eggs detected was that high as the impact of the antibiotic from animal manure released from the farms, ranches and fish farm was one of the significant environmental issues these days. And the threat is right behind us.
Ever since 1928, when Alexander Fleming discovered Penicillin, the antibiotics have become “the Magic Medicine” to human. It contributed greatly in the development of medicine through surgical technology. However, the abuse of the antibiotics because of the greed of mankind created the super bacteria that counter-attack our lives.
The accumulation of antibiotics in the environment through the illegal dump can have severe consequences. They may increase the risk that novel resistant pathogenic bacteria arise and spread. That is the cause of increased prevalence and rapid spread of antibiotic resistance as well as the emergence of new, multidrug-resistant pathogens that are threatening our lives. Humans may become sick when consuming contaminated food raised from the contaminated environment even without contacting the animals or the products with pathogens directly.
Surprisingly, according to the interview with Sung, Hyun Jung, a researcher of ST Chemical Inc., other than the perimeter around facilities handling many chemicals such as hospitals, pharmaceutical companies or chemical laboratories, farms, ranches, and any types of fish farms emit most antibiotics than any site around us. Unfortunately, we cannot meticulously track the use of the antibiotics in these farms. In the U.S. only, animals consume more than twice as many medically important antibiotics as humans. FDA says animal consumption of antibiotics figures 8,893,103kg in 2012. Human consumption was 3,379,226kg in 2012, based on calculations by IMS Health. The figures are rounded from 72.5% used in animals and 27.5% used in humans, in simple math 30% consumed by humans 70% are consumed by animals. This difference between human and animal would be larger when the figure goes worldwide. As antibiotics in the animal manure are transported with water and through the sediments and soil, gradients of different antibiotic concentrations will form. Even very low antibiotic concentrations may be enough to select for highly resistant bacteria, and it has been demonstrated and proven. However as pigs produce 10 times of excrement than a human does and cows for 18 times, the number of an illegal dump of animal manure rise every year and so makes the threat of cultivation of super-bugs.
Every year much news about illegal dumping of animal manure were reported, and many international organizations including the World Health Organization (WHO) an United Nations warn governments around the world to give the guidelines to their farmers that they must prevent using powerful antibiotics on animals reared for food because of the serious risks to human health as well as the pollution to the environment that result.
In order to prevent the further situation, WHO gives three immediate suggestions as follow.
First, farmers must reduce the use of antibiotics on their animals as the growth substitutes. Fast growth rate and the increase of meat products was the important reason that farmers use antibiotics to their animals. However, the constant exposure to the low dose of antibiotics is the best condition to develop super-bugs and also the best way to accumulate antibiotics in their body systems.
Second, governments must have a strict surveillance system to track the use of antibiotics both for human and animal. It is important that we must know the numbers of antibiotics we consume. Hence, we can prevent the abuse of it.
Third, the government must develop a strong surveillance system as well as restrictions on illegal dumping of animal manure that pollutes the environment seriously. Strong disadvantages are needed in these cases to prevent recurrences.
This mission is not for someone else. These works are our duty as a member of the earth.
origin: CDC.org
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