tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5134993821545562205.post3608485992222001278..comments2024-03-03T13:36:10.569-05:00Comments on The Dog Zombie: Antimicrobial oversight in veterinary newsThe Dog Zombiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00242246213147009685noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5134993821545562205.post-27351747513272399112012-05-28T01:42:20.735-04:002012-05-28T01:42:20.735-04:00Well let's get a marketing proposal ready for ...Well let's get a marketing proposal ready for NW Beef!Austin J. Bouckhttp://blogs.oregonstate.edu/aboucknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5134993821545562205.post-19146908729491756222012-05-25T13:49:11.545-04:002012-05-25T13:49:11.545-04:00Hey Austin. Excellent points. Yes, I think the rBS...Hey Austin. Excellent points. Yes, I think the rBST lesson is a very relevant one. I'd say the organic requirements are not all that useful at this point -- maybe rather than trying to enter that morass, distributors could just make their own claims on the label as they did with rBST-free milk. So you tell me how to get that movement started, though! You have more connections in food production than I do, right?The Dog Zombiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00242246213147009685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5134993821545562205.post-1093720572549612112012-05-25T13:40:27.711-04:002012-05-25T13:40:27.711-04:00I think we're actually in pretty close agreeme...I think we're actually in pretty close agreement here. I completely agree with you that antibiotics should only be used on sick animals -- as I said, "shouldn’t we also be talking about reducing [the animals'] stress to reduce their susceptibility [to disease] in the first place" rather than talking about how to cure that disease once it shows up?<br /><br />I'll disagree with you about the relevance of veterinarians vs evolutionary biologists to the argument, though I suspect that disagreement is just going to come from our different perspectives. Biologists may understand the microbiology better, but veterinarians understand the whole picture better, including the disease, the animal, and the producer. Now, I will say that the veterinary community has done a pretty poor job so far of managing this situation -- we haven't yet really committed to decreasing antibiotic use in any significant way, which I find frustrating. But I still think that we as a profession are best equipped with the knowledge needed to tackle the problem. If only we can take a step back, roll up our sleeves, and admit that the job won't be fun but must be done.The Dog Zombiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00242246213147009685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5134993821545562205.post-65356194334537222012012-05-25T13:19:07.501-04:002012-05-25T13:19:07.501-04:00Hey DZ.
I'm actually cautiously optimistic th...Hey DZ.<br /><br />I'm actually cautiously optimistic that the trend in consumer pressure against antibiotics will end up actually being strong enough to make voluntary enforcement possible. Look at how rBST use is pretty much useless since Tillamook and Wal-Mart got on board, and how successful voluntary welfare audits have been for McDonalds chicken and beef producers.<br /><br />I think that rather than draft legal restriction guidelines that are slow to update, we need to reevaluate our organic requirements or allow food label claims such as "only clinically ill animals were given antibiotics in the creation of this product" or "no antibiotics used to enhance growth". This would put more marketing/consumer preference pressure on producers to avoid using antibiotics or ionophores for growth as consumers would have more purchasing power without having to pay a full organic price.<br /><br />I absolutely agree with encouraging more veterinarian involvement however. In addition to introducing more knowledge on the implications of product use, it's another way we can bring more veterinary involvement into food production.Austin J. Bouckhttp://blogs.oregonstate.edu/aboucknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5134993821545562205.post-6445683793576149032012-05-25T12:39:20.891-04:002012-05-25T12:39:20.891-04:00"Veterinarians are the group who best underst..."Veterinarians are the group who best understand the implications of the use of particular antibiotics"<br /><br />Sorry, but I think you're wrong there. The group who best understand the implications of using antibiotics are evolutionary biologists.<br /><br />Antibiotics are our only defense against a whole bunch of lethal, highly contagious diseases with pandemic potential. Every time you use them, you gamble. If you lose that gamble, you take one step toward evolving a strain that could kill you, your family, and a good percentage of humanity.<br /><br />Worse, if some of those antibiotics end up in the water - which they generally do - you're creating an ideal environment to select for resistance in every bacterium in the earth and waterways. And remember, bacteria share genes - what one can resist, pretty soon all can resist.<br /><br />From an evolutionary perspective, it's frankly insane to use antibiotics for any purpose other than treating serious disease in humans and beloved pets. Livestock don't intrinsically need antibiotics - they get dosed with them for purely economic reasons, because it's cheaper to keep them in an environment where they benefit from them.<br /><br />The fact that industry is slowly moving toward some sort of compromise is nice. But when you see your mother dying of an infection we could have cured ten years ago, you might not find cheap beef so comforting.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com