Even common viruses, once treatable, as well as resistant strains of diseases, do NOT always respond well anymore to old standby antibiotic remedies. Feeding farm animals antibiotics is primarily done to increase profits because it makes the animals grow larger faster. Unfortunately, this also paves the way for potential drug-resistant viruses for those who regularly eat commercially raised farm animal and fish flesh.
Once routine ailments may turn into “killer” diseases. Plagues that sweep the world may be mother Earth’s revenge to solve its own problems and there may be little man and his capitalist, commercial culture can do to stop this runaway train. New antibiotics are not being developed fast enough to treat drug-resistant bacteria.
Drug companies have even currently cut back on research in this area. Today, we have “superbugs” not easily influenced by modern day antibiotics. Incurable infections may become widespread, especially in hospitals. Antibiotics may be over-prescribed by physicians for everything even potentially infectious.
Drug-makers have been accused of enticing physicians to prescribe newer antibiotics, possibly making the newer ones less effective sooner as our bodies build up a resistance to antibiotics in general. Remember, it may take as little as 25 minutes for a strain of bacteria to figure out a way to resist a prescribed antibiotic. Factor in the use of antibiotics in commercial farm animals and fish, which possibly affects all flesh-eaters, and it is no wonder why we may be becoming so drug-resistant to bacteria potentially resulting in more and newer infections that are getting harder to cure.
A false sense of security would be the naive belief that our illustrious scientists will always discover new means for dealing with plagues and contagious diseases. The remedies we may need to survive may not even exist. The only cure may be found in plagues that wipe out much of mankind forcing it to start over similar to when nature calls and
a forest fire burns off the land to replenish and foster new growth.
SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCE: CONSUMER REPORTS MAGAZINE JULY 1995