I excerpted parts of a very long article from Salon with the link at the bottom for anyone who wants to wade through the whole thing. The last paragraph talks about a study of the situation which has been delayed by Agribusiness for thirty six years. One of Parkinson’s Laws, “The Law of Delay” is “Delay is the Deadliest Form of Denial” and is SOP for lobbyists and government. I am aware Salon is ultra Liberal publication but a stopped clock is right twice a day.
This article applies to livestock but also applies to vegetation. Twenty acres of the land I rent from the County and local School District is tillable which I sublet to a neighbor who uses a no till crop rotation of corn and soy beans. I am on a South sloping hillside so there are different fields with some in corn and some in soy beans. One particular weed developed a resistance to Roundup so he is using another herbicide. Salon article excerpts start below.
There is a near consensus among public health experts that the bulk antibiotics produced by AHI’s member companies are accelerating the approach of a post-antibiotics nightmare scenario, in which superbugs routinely emerge from our farms and wreak havoc on a human population living among the ruins of modern medicine. The bloc of skeptics who view AHI’s mission with mounting anxiety includes Pet Night party poopers like the World Health Organization and the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Not long ago these authorities joined the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics in pressing their concerns on Congress in the form of a letter. “The evidence is so strong of a link between misuse of antibiotics in food animals and human antibiotic resistance,” it stated, “that FDA and Congress should be acting much more boldly and urgently to protect these vital drugs for human illness. Overuse and misuse of important antibiotics in food animals must end.”________________________________________
Even before getting to the relationship between animal antibiotics and human health, the very need for bulk drugs in factory farms points to the inherent unhealthiness of penning industrial numbers of pigs, cows and chickens in filthy, high-density and stressful conditions. “If your production system makes animals sick in a predictable manner, then that system is broken,” says Lance Price, an epidemiologist at George Washington University who studies the spread of forborne bacteria. Price is at the forefront of researchers whose work is illuminating how Big Ag’s answer to its own brokenness — sub-therapeutic levels of antibiotics mixed in with daily feed — is fueling the spread of treatment-resistant bacteria through meat and produce tainted by bug-infused feces and fertilizer. Superbugs can also leave farms through the soil, air and water, threatening everybody, irrespective of their diet.In recent years, a series of pathogenic outbreaks has generated loudening public chatter about agricultural antibiotics. The problem boils down to simple evolution: we are assisting in the mutation of bacterial defenses that make them resistant to our antibiotics.”
http://www.salon.com/2014/01/12/big_ags_big_lie_factory_farms_your_health_and_the_new_politics_of_antibiotics/
Read or listen to “The new order of Barbarians” all of this poisoning
is part of Codex Alimentarious, and Agenda 21….
the stealth muder of 7 billion is underway…and dumbfuck American’s dont even care.
Good article, Roy, although they don’t do enough to point out that consumer’s misuse of antibiotics also contributes to superbugs. And while they don’t contribute directly to antibiotic resistance, antimicrobial soaps and cleaning agents aren’t doing us any favors, either.
And just to clarify from your opening statement, you do realize that weeds are not bacteria and Roundup is not an antibiotic, right? You were discussing pesticide resistance in general, not just antibiotics? If you were suggesting that vegetation contains antibiotics, that’s because it’s had manure from treated animals applied to it — a practice that is fully accepted under “organic” growing methods.
Either the writer of the article failed to do the research or he was misled intentionally.
The term “sub-therapeutic use of anti-biotics” has NOTHING to do with preventing outbreaks of specific ailments in livestock. It is a technique that is used on feeders- animals that have been weaned and being fattened up for slaughter.
The profit margins on feedlots- the industrial ops that take young, mostly healthy animals that have been procured from smaller cow/calf and farrowing operations (where mature, fertile females are inseminated and give birth to and rear young)- are minute. They make their money by higher than avaerage conversion rates, i.e. turning “feed” into “hanging weight” or slaughtered sides. To do this one of the surest methods is to kill of the bacteria that lives in the digestive tract of that animal so that the feed, rathger than breaking down normally through the natural process of biotic digestion is instead backed-up in the animal. The body has no choice but to convert that feed into marbling and fat. This adds between 15-30% of the hanging weight in a matter of weeks rather than into muscle mass.
If you believe that these animals are being fed a steady diet of antibiotics to supress pulmonary infections or the scours, then you haven’t thought about. Giving healthy animals all the same amount of antibiotics in order to prevent an outbreak of some common infection doesn’t make anymore sense than medicating the entire population of Manhattan for the same reason- it loses any therepeutic value. Animals in feedlots don’t require that kind of therapy because guess what? They’re heading to the abbatoir, not back to the open range.
I’d venture a guess that less than one person in ten thousand is aware of this fact.
The problem of human beings developing antiobiotic resistance due to pass through from the meat they consume is real, but the far more common and recognizable side affect is obesity. The healthy bacteria that live in the human gut are being killed off and the same process that takes place in livestock takes place in us.
If you know anything at all about food, if you care even a little bit about your health or your family you must locate a nearby farmer who practices the kind of husbandry that nature creates- free range, 100% grass based diet, humane handling, etc and buy your food from them. If you live where there is absolutely zero access to a farm and do not own a freezer, then shop from trusted sources like co-ops and CSA’s (most have delivery systems set up for urban areas).
It is mind boggling to me that Americans are proud of their latest, pricey I-gadget, hybrid car, signature handbag, etc but bitch about the higher cost of organic produce, humanely raised beef, free range eggs.
When we sell a steak to someone for the first time there is always a quizzical look on their face. The meat isn’t pink, it’s deep maroon. The flesh is well muscled because the animal lives in an open environment where it can spend it’s days perpetually moving as a herd- it’s oxygenated and it’s pure protein. Second, there’s no fat. A young animal that digests well doesn’t build fat within the tissue- that is a sign of poor health- it only adds fat as a cape prior to Winter and that is a layer of insulation that sits atop the carcass- by Spring its gone.
You are what you eat. You want to eat cheap fatty, drug laced, overly processed foods- expect to become a sickly, fat human.
“To do this one of the surest methods is to kill of the bacteria that lives in the digestive tract of that animal so that the feed, rathger [sic] than breaking down normally through the natural process of biotic digestion is instead backed-up in the animal. The body has no choice but to convert that feed into marbling and fat. This adds between 15-30% of the hanging weight in a matter of weeks rather than into muscle mass.” -HF
Thats just…bad. Bad for McDawfuls Addicts and obese Wally Wanderers.
So, I wonder, if killing off the bacteria in ‘hanging weight’ does not also cause the same amount of marbling in humans from overuse of antibiotics.
One time I worked in a food production facility [doing repairs] that manufactured corny dogs. Huge vats of oil with conveyors that speared the dog, flipped, dipped in corn meal batter…
Anyway, we had alot of excess corn meal and one day I saw a lab worker pouring ‘blue water’ same basic disinfectant they put in aircraft toilet systems, over the corn mean to be sold to ‘hanging meat’ producers.
Nothing like working in a place like that to change your eating habits.
“So, I wonder, if killing off the bacteria in ‘hanging weight’ does not also cause the same amount of marbling in humans from overuse of antibiotics.”
My guess is that there is a solid correlation between the advent of the use of antibiotics in feedlots and the rise in the obesity epidemic. I know that there are additional factors like sedentary lifestyle, overly processed (thus nutritionally ‘dead’ food) and poor eating habits, but a healthy organism has an opportunity to ameliorate those issues, where a weakened one does not.
hardscrabble @ 07:58 — Amen!
Just want to add that the article’s comment about low-level antibiotic feeding being used for growth promotion used to be a common practice in poultry production. It’s my understanding that the industry “banned” it, but that doesn’t mean that some producers don’t still do it. It was also determined that it wasn’t cost effective, either.
Agree strongly with your, “buy from a local farmer” statement. I would only add that’s true of organic produce, too… the massive “organic industry” is just as bad, if not worse than factory farms in terms of what they use on their crops (with a few exceptions). Local organic farmers tend to practice it the way most people WANT their organic food to be grown. But like everything else, once you get into the high-value, mass production side of things, it’s all about money and a product that looks good, nutrition and health be damned.
When I say “buy organic” or “grass fed” I mean from a farmer that you know who practices true organic principles, not buy a label. I know that it becomes harder the deeper in the urban pocket someone has dug themselves.
When people buy a car, they generally go and look at it first. Ditto when they need to see a doctor or a specialist. Food is the single biggest investment people purchase in their lives because unlike everything else, their life depends upon it. The quality of your life depends upon the choices they make about what they eat.
Some of my best customers are from the lowest rung on the economic ladder- refugees with barely any possessions. They take the time to find a farmer that raises animals a specific way, they come to the farm so they can look the animal in the eye. They watch us slaughter it (occasionally they will even do it themselves) and then they butcher it and take home every last scrap and I know that they use it. As poor as these people are, they take their food serriously and let me tell you compared to the average American, most of these folks appear- at least to my eyes- to be healthy and physically fit. Most of my American customers come to us in poor health and overweight because they know that their diet sucks and that maybe the stuff they hear about sourcing quality food is the first step. As they learn about food from us and whatever other resources they use, I can see them transform back into healthy, fit human beings.
Yesterday sucked weatherwise- freezing drizzle is the worst- and near the end of my day a customer who has been with us for a year made a point of coming out to one of the barns to find me to say thank you. He told me about a couple of dishes he had recently made from our chorizo (the best sausage I’ve ever had”, he said) and beef kabobs. I brightened up at the nice comments, but more than that I looked at this guy twnety years my junior who came to us looking like a fat old man and noticed just how good he was looking- clear eyes, smile, at least twenty pounds lighter. It was nice to know we played a small part in this guys enjoyment of life.
You, sir, are the real deal. I hope you continue to share your knowledge here and in real life.
Do you produce anything other than proteins? Think you said you do maple syrup, but do you grow vegetables and fruit at all?
We grow everything that we consume with the exception of citrus, coffee, tea and olive oil- and spices of course. We produce surplus garlic for sale as well as boutiqe-ey salad greens, berries, stone fruits, apples and pears. Too many people do produce better than we do for sale at markets so we concentrate on proteins- poultry, eggs, beef, lamb, pork, cabron since that allows us to remain on the farm for most of our year instead of schlepping stuff to farmer’s markets. We do a lot of foraging too- mushrooms, fiddle head ferns, ginseng, cress, wild greens, nuts, etc so we have a pretty wide variety in our diet and high end tradeables. Between drying, fermenting, canning and freezing we eat well balanced meals all year long from our own production and webarter for the stuff we can’t produce using surplus syrup, maple sugar, garlic, homemade jams and condiments, cheeses, etc.
The article was basically limited to antibiotics in livestock. I added plants to show the relationship of resistant strains developing. Herbicides act as an antibiotic to soil bacteria killing them. There are so many interrelated things related to Agribusiness it is easy to overlook some. Most people don’t understand and cannot connect the dots so Agribusiness can get away with publishing misinformation. Although I am a Deist I find two Bible passages relevant: “The Truth shall see you free.” This is troubling to Monsanto and politicians. “Forgive them Lord for they know not what they do.”
There are basically two types or agriculture, organic and industrial. Industrial uses industrial processed fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides which are water soluble. It produces larger yields of food of poorer nutritional value. No till industrial farming is doing massive ecological damage. One pound of organic matter will hold four pounds of water. Organic matter has a half life of one year or after a year half is left, two years a quarter three years an eights and so forth. By not plowing the plant residue back into the soil you are depleting the organic matter and returning the soil to hard pact sub soil where water runs off causing flooding, washing soluble fertilizer into the ocean and preventing water from recharging the aquifer.
In organic farming bacteria slowly release the nutrients from the organic matter. Herbicides kill the bacteria and no till deletes the organic matter. The Mennonites and my Grandfather used a four year cycle where every forth year the field was left fallow and plowed under. The Jews use a seven year cycle as stated in the Bible.
Grains are unnecessary for livestock and humans. Grains are not livestock’s natural food, grass is. The Mennonites tell me cows give the same amount on grass and cattle can be fed only grass. Industrial farmers grass feed cattle to eight hundred pounds then grain feed to put weight in the form of fat.
Declining fossil fuels will end industrial agriculture and result in a huge population reduction.
hardscrabble, almost the same here. Our main focus is fruit, but I sell boutique-y salad greens, heirloom tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, garlic/shallots, squash and herbs as well. Just put in 750 cherry trees in high tunnels last spring, and I’m hoping to expand the berries to pick-your-own in the next few years. We stopped doing maple syrup 15 years ago but we still sell honey from our bees.
In terms of foraging, all we have are morels and ramps. We’ve been doing that just for ourselves, but I may start to sell the ramps since they’ve picked up in popularity.
Roy,
That was an excellent layman’s summation.
I disagree with the grain part though, grain is the fruit of grass and as such has great nutritive value as long as it is used properly (steel cut oats is a good example). And nothing sates real hunger like a piece of crusty whole grain homemade bread. It’s the abuse of grains and the refinement that strips it of its utility in a diet.
The cattle I see grazing are eating grass before it has gone to seed. Wheat,barley.rye and spelt contain gluten while soybeans contain lecithin. Both gluten and lecithin are anti nutrients blocking absorption of certain nutrients which varies between individuals. Both are appetite stimulants. The Green Revolution short stemmed wheat is not the same wheat our grandparents ate.
Corn has to be crushed or milled before it can be used as cattle food otherwise it passes through whole, same with humans. See the chickens pecking at the cow pies these are not shit eating chickens. Silage is chopped and crushed.
Soybeans have to be heated to a temperature to release an enzyme before they can be used as cattle food and milled. If you check the Futures market you will see soybean meal. Small amounts of raw soybeans can be fed. The Mennonites grow very little soy beans.
Horses can survive on grass only but if they are worked hard they need some grain. Wild horses are not worked and live on grass only.
Hardscrabble,
I was discussing your point of view about antibiotics with my wife and I was amazed about feed lot weight gain as one of the reason for its use. So this AM Sacramento Bee ran an article on it and
thank you for bringing to our attention. Think you are on to something about grass feed beef, and we have of late been buying more of it.
I was in food processing for years, and I would have thought I would have been aware of it.