this post was submitted on 16 Nov 2023

76 points (100.0% liked)

World News

22009 readers

64 users here now

Breaking news from around the world.

News that is American but has an international facet may also be posted here.

Guidelines for submissions:

Where possible, post the original source of information.
- If there is a paywall, you can use alternative sources or provide an archive.today, 12ft.io, etc. link in the body.
Do not editorialize titles. Preserve the original title when possible; edits for clarity are fine.
Do not post ragebait or shock stories. These will be removed.
Do not post tabloid or blogspam stories. These will be removed.
Social media should be a source of last resort.

These guidelines will be enforced on a know-it-when-I-see-it basis.

For US News, see the US News community.

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Commentary: We face a world potentially running out of antibiotics (www.channelnewsasia.com)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

77 comments fedilink hide all child comments

top 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] [email protected] 58 points 10 months ago (2 children)

This has been known and warned for probably decades now.

But still we continue to "preemptively" use it in vast quantities in the meat, milk and egg industry instead of using sustainable or even humane conditions for the animals in question.

Guess who gets to eat antibiotics evey day, increasing likelihood of multi resistant germs?

Meat eaters. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8565197/

Nothing will be done about it until its too late. As is tradition. Profits are more important than world wide disaster. Again.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Multiple countries need to fix their inadequate regulations to stop aggravating antibiotics resistance, including:

India where there is "Inappropriate use of antibiotics [..] Largely unrestricted over-the-counter sales"
China as you mentioned, need to continue efforts to reduce antibiotics (mis)use.
European countries are collectively the world's biggest importer of food, including farmed animals periodically dosed with antibiotics. A 2022 ban on routine antibiotic use should hopefully avoid worst abuses on antibiotics, including for imports.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I was also shocked to learn the US have over the counter antiobiotics that people pop for random illness and minor cuts/scrapes. Pretty much unthinkable here (EUN)

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

We absolutely do not have over-the-counter antibiotics, they need a prescription every time

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Besides the topicals OTC that i outlined in here, US friends of mine "keep" their remaining prescription ABs for when they are sick again.

Like he got prescribed some for a COLD and then kept them to pop when he gets the next COLD :'D

Its nuts. Some OTC, others simply overprescribed.

Here you get a prescription if you have a severe infection, OR a substantial injury with high risk.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Wait, I'm assuming you're from somewhere in Europe, you don't have topical antibiotics available without prescription?!

I wouldn't argue against antibiotics being overprescribed in America, they definitely are. The tendency is for medicine to be prescribed if a patient sees a doctor. Another crappy consequence of an expensive medical system, people won't be satisfied if they spent hundreds of dollars only to be told to rest and drink lots of fluids.

US friends of mine "keep" their remaining prescription ABs for when they are sick again

This is definitely a thing that morons do over here 😂

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

We definitely don't have that at all.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Yes, some topical AB are available according to a quick online search

Some topical antibiotics can be purchased as over-the-counter (OTC) medicines.
However, it is always recommended that you consult a medical expert before purchasing and using any medication.
Topical antibiotics are used to treat skin wounds, scrapes, scratches, and minor burns.
They are available in ointment, cream, spray, or powder forms and are used to prevent infection in topical skin ailments.
Some over-the-counter topical antibiotics include: Bacitracin (Neosporin)
Polymyxin (Polysporin)
Neomycin (Neosporin Plus Pain Relief)
Pramoxine
Benzoyl peroxide (Proactiv)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

There's a huge difference between saying 'antibiotics are available OTC' and 'topical antibiotics are available OTC'. One is misleading clickbait nonsense, the other is true.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Thats why i didnt write what you claim i did.

"they have over the counter antiobiotics"

As in antibiotics exist there that are OTC.

Is that so absurd?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Go vegan. It's better for the planet too.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

I know, i am vegan for those reasons and more :)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (2 children)

being vegan doesn't help the planet at all.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (2 children)

How does reducing land and water use through your food choice not help the planet?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

it doesn't actually reduce the use.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Please don't tell me you're gonna bring up the stupid soy fields in the rain forest argument :'D

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (21 children)

being vegan doesn't stop soy from being grown in rainforests

load more comments (21 replies)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (16 children)

environmental destruction continues whether you are vegan or not.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

also what part of my comment prompted you to post that random response?

load more comments (15 replies)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (2 children)

You are making the false assumption that your consumption is causative to the production of animal products which is, unfortunately and non-intuituvely, untrue. The only difference between vegan and non-vegan diets is whether animal products end up on your plate vs. in "cheese mountain" type stockpiles, exports, landfills, etc.

That being said, 'commie' is a terrible communicator if that's what they're trying to say. Going vegan does help to highlight some of the contradictions of capitalism and you're on the right track as it should be advocated for. However, the 'invisible hand of the free market' does not translate veganism to any reduction in farmed animals, land or water use.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

“If you don’t buy it a company will throw it away instead” is not a very good argument to buy something if you even believe it to be true at all.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (3 children)

That's not what I'm saying, I'm saying the act of "not buying it" (even if it was a complete and total boycott) has no impact on the production due to the system of subsidies, futures, derivatives, etc. that is set up explicitly to make sure production continues. And therefore has no impact on land/water usage, suffering etc.

With the point being that it's a good first step, but if your expectation is it will change anything without first changing the underlying system you will be very disappointed.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Your argument is called the nirvana fallacy;

“World peace would be ideal; this peace treaty fails to completely achieve world peace; therefore this peace treaty is not worth doing.”

And I do not accept that.

load more comments (1 replies)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

Surely the societal pressure to change the systems that support factory farming of animals will grow pretty much in proportion with the vegan/vegetarian population? I don't like the defeatist attitude that our choises as consumers don't matter, at all.

load more comments (2 replies)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Are u saying if over night the entire customer base of meat as a whole stopped buying it would have zero effect? Certainly thats not whay youre saying right?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Proof?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (4 children)

It takes less land and water to feed someone wheat, soy or corn than to feed them beef, chicken or pork.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

what crops that are fed to beef chicken and pork are parts of plants that people won't eat for the most part. The same fields that grow the soybeans we use for oil are growing soybeans that are used as feed. The same soybeans that are used for oil are used for feed.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

This is sometimes true. However, e.g., about 4% of the farmland in California is used for alfafa, which is just for livestock. Alfafa is also a very water intensive crop.

Additionally, there are other uses that livestock corn feed could be put to if there weren't so many damn cows, so it's not like we'd be throwing away megatons of silage if it weren't for cattle.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

it's not like we'd be throwing away megatons of silage if it weren't for cattle.

I don't think there is a better use than making food. I'm fine with that.

load more comments (3 replies)

[+] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

[deleted]

[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago (1 children)

"Running out" is a bit of a weird title here, it doesn't mean that some deposit is running dry. There are more and more bacteria getting resistant for more and more types of antibiotics, making them no longer effective. Even a bottomless supply of antibiotics is useless if it doesn't actually kill the things it's supposed to kill.

I suppose the "running out" part would mean that there are only so many types of antibiotics, if none of them are effective anymore (or not enough of them are effective enough) we would be in some deep shit.

(being in deep shit may cause a severe risk of bacterial infection, I highly recommend not being in such a situation)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

So this has been reported for years now. We aren't running out of antibiotics. We are running out of options like you said. The real reason is that doctors would prescribe stronger antibiotics than were needed. Also, people would stop taking the full course because they felt better before then, and lastly, farms give antibiotics to their animals just in case, so any bacteria that would survive any of these is allowed to reproduce and become resistant to antibiotics.

load more comments