Farm animals in India and China are becoming more resistant to antibiotics

Post by avip » Mon, Sep 23, 2019, 6:04 PM UTC

maxerickson wrote: post #14

kryogen1c wrote: post #9

Source paper https://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6459/eaaw1944.ful... >From 2000 to 2018, the proportion of antimicrobial compounds with resistance higher than 50% (P50) increased from 0.15 to 0.41 in chickens and from 0.13 to 0.34 in pigs and plateaued between 0.12 and 0.23 in cattle. >Globally, 73% of all antimicrobials sold on Earth are used in animals raised for food. Jeeeesus. It sure feels like humanity…

Resistance to antibiotics would take us back to 1900, not to the brink of annihilation. My point isn't to dismiss the problem, just that it would mean things like surgery being much riskier, not massive die offs.

Post by jdironman » Mon, Sep 23, 2019, 6:20 PM UTC

Mikeb85 wrote: post #30

prongletown wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>eat well raised cow meat It takes significantly more feed to raise a cow. The calories extracted from cow meat is extremely inefficient considering the high number of calories in (feed) and water. So, you could not use feed (vegetable death-per-calorie!) because it's something like a 8:1 calorie ratio for feed to a pound of beef. You'd have to pasture raise the cows. There is no feasible way to ensure that all food…

> There is no feasible way to ensure that all food is pasture-grazing cow meat at a price point accessible to most Americans. Maybe Americans (westerners in general actually) should simply eat less? 3 oz of meat per day is enough (5 oz of protein is recommended, but part of that can easily be filled by grains, legumes, cheese, milk, etc...). No one needs 10 oz of meat per day (current average consumption for American…

Post by abeppu » Mon, Sep 23, 2019, 6:33 PM UTC

maxerickson wrote: post #74

avip wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to contradict you, but had we the Spanish flu today you'd get 300mm dead within a year, and about 2.5 Billion people hospitalized... that would far exceed any humanitarian crisis we can currently imagine.

The public health response was relatively ineffective in 1918 (influenza was not particularly well understood then), a similar virus would very likely not infect the same proportion of people as were infected then. The proportion would probably also be reduced in at least 2 ways. The geographic extent would be smaller, and in areas where there were outbreaks, fewer people would be infected. If there was a good vaccin…

Post by warent » Mon, Sep 23, 2019, 6:38 PM UTC

seanwilson wrote: post #72

warent wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would mean less livestock farming, which means people would have to accept a life with less meat. It's simply not going to happen. Humans are way too arrogant and inflexible to impose the smallest inconvenience on themselves unless faced with tangible, immediately harmful effects. Not to mention the complete shift in the global economy that it would demand. I've been a vegetarian for about 4 years and the cognit…

> I've been a vegetarian for about 4 years and the cognitive dissonance you start to see is remarkable. People claim to love animals and hate animal cruelty through mouthfuls of burger and pork. Can you explain why producing eggs and cow milk is any less cruel than producing animals only for meat? In terms of cognitive dissonance, I have a hard time understanding the rational behind vegetarianism to be honest when a…

Post by warent » Mon, Sep 23, 2019, 6:48 PM UTC

seanwilson wrote: post #78

warent wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Can you explain why producing eggs and cow milk is any less cruel than producing animals only for meat? You're running wild with an assumption that isn't true. Of course it's just as cruel. I don't purchase dairy or eggs, and only consume eggs in restaurants on rare occasions. Really you're preaching to the choir here.

Why do you mention vegetarianism and not e.g. plant-based or vegan then when referring to people being blind to animal cruelty? I genuinely find vegetarianism confusing and want to understand the rationale behind it, especially when someone knows the dairy and egg industry is similarly cruel.