Scientists See Higher Use of Antibiotics on Farms
By DENISE GRADY
Antibiotics are being used far more heavily in pigs, cows and chickens than
has been revealed by the drug and livestock industries, a public interest
group is saying today, citing as evidence its own calculations of the
drugs' use on farms.
The issue is of concern because healthy farm animals are routinely fed
antibiotics to promote growth and prevent infections. That practice can
breed strains of drug-resistant bacteria, which can infect people who eat
contaminated meat or come into contact with food or water contaminated by
the animals' droppings.
The estimates of antibiotic use appear in a 109-page report by the Union of
Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit group based in Cambridge, Mass., that
advocates less use of the drugs in agriculture.
A trade group representing drug makers has disputed the findings, which are
40 percent higher than industry estimates.
Government scientists say that regardless of who is right, the conflicting
figures highlight a serious problem: the glaring lack of reliable
information about the amounts and types of antibiotics used in livestock in
different parts of the country. Researchers say that information is
essential for tracking the emergence of resistant bacteria and determining
whether it correlates with patterns of antibiotic use, which could then be
changed.
Dr. David M. Bell, the antimicrobial resistance coordinator at the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, said he had not yet seen the full
report and could not comment on the methods it used.
"But it is an interesting report that challenges longstanding estimates and
points out the need to collect better data on antibiotic use," Dr. Bell
said. "There is widespread agreement that we lack reliable data on
antibiotic use patterns."
The data is lacking, Dr. Bell said, because "in agriculture, industry has
been reluctant to provide it, saying the information is proprietary."
Full article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/08/science/08GERM.html
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Getting the Message From 'Eco-Terrorists'
By DAN BARRY and AL BAKER
MOUNT SINAI, N.Y., Jan. 5 - The arson committed at the upscale subdivision
being built on old farmland here, just off Route 25A in eastern Long
Island, will never serve as a sophisticated model for the crime. The fires
that torched three nearly completed houses were all ignited by birthday
candles that had been attached to the handles of plastic jugs filled with
gasoline.
And the messages spray-painted on another house in the subdivision that
snowy, Dec. 30 morning did not seem particularly auspicious either: "ELF"
"Stop Urban Sprawl." "If You Build It We Will Burn It." And, finally, "Burn
the Rich."
But if the ELF acronym is mostly unfamiliar on the East Coast, it has long
been a reference point in the Pacific Northwest for illegal and extreme
environmental activism that law enforcement officials call eco-terrorism.
It stands for Earth Liberation Front, a movement structured so loosely that
trying to get a handle on it is like trying to grab a fistful of water.
For several years the people who claim allegiance to the group ELF and its
partner in activism, the Animal Liberation Front, have taken responsibility
for an underground campaign of destruction and fire against those they see
as the earth's enemies: lumber and construction industries, mink and fox
farmers, bioengineering companies and laboratories that do tests on
animals. For ELF and ALF, they all represent base capitalism.
Full article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/08/nyregion/08ECCO.html
Louis Proyect
Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org
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