ANTIBIOTICS IN FARM ANIMALS: HIGH RISK, LITTLE GAIN

OVERSUSE OF ANTIBIOTICS IN FOOD ANIMALS CREATE
RISK IN HUMANS DUE TO DRUG-RESISTANT INFECTIONS

NEW YORK (ABC News) - Antibiotics keep animals healthy and make them grow faster, but they also create drug-resistant infections that can be deadly when spread to humans. In the United States, industrial farm animals are commonly given low doses of antibiotics and related drugs in their daily feed. Food animals - poultry, swine and cattle - are routinely fed antibiotics and related drugs for disease prevention and growth promotion. Recently, major increases in antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections in human populations have led to public health concerns regarding antibiotic use for nontherapeutic purposes (i.e., not used to treat disease) in animals destined for food production. Bacteria are able to develop antibiotic resistance when exposed to low doses of drugs over long periods of time. To promote growth and weight gain, entire herds or flocks of farm animals are routinely fed antibiotics and related drugs at low levels in their feed or water - a practice that has been identified as a major contributor to antibiotic resistance. In addition, the crowded and often unhygienic conditions of many industrial farms facilitate transfer of bacteria and infection, increasing the need for antibiotic use in the hopes of preventing diseases that might arise from these conditions. Broiler chickens and laying hens are conventionally kept in crowded sheds or battery cages in conditions which contribute to the rapid spread of contagious diseases.

The overuse of antibiotics and related drugs in food animals is leading to increased risk of human illness and increased healthcare costs, with little to no agricultural economic benefit. Recent economic analysis of antibiotic use in poultry disputes the myth that using drugs nontherapeutically results in large economic gains. In fact, data show that improving management of farm animals (e.g., cleaning facilities more thoroughly and frequently) achieves the same benefits as nontherapeutic antibiotic use, which represents just an unnecessary human health risk.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Humans who misuse their free will have to lose their free will, at least for a time. Chapter sixteen of the Bhagavad-gita says that such human beings will have to take birth in lower species of life. Thus some souls in human dress later wear the dress of an animal and the degree of suffering or enjoyment they have in animal life is directly related to what they did in human life. Animals cannot create new karma because they are completely controlled by their nature. Similar to criminals being incarcerated by the state, souls wearing animal bodies serve out their karmic sentences until they are again eligible for a human form of life, where they will have another chance to act responsibly and progress toward liberation.

Śrīla Bhakti Vedanta Tripurari Mahārāja :
“Animals and Karma” - Śrī Caitanya Sanga
Vol. VIII, No. 3 - Mar. 17, 2006.
http://www.swami.org/pages/sanga/