‘Superbug’ scourge spreads as U.S. fails to track rising human toll • Hacker News Board

Re: ‘Superbug’ scourge spreads as U.S. fails to track rising human toll

#21

Post by wildmusings » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 4:32 PM UTC

ocschwar wrote: post #17

Bear in mind that in the US, our lovely republican party literally made it illegal to research where the superbugs are being bred. In the US, the problem is mostly pig and cattle feedlots that rely on antibiotics to keep the animals from being sickened but he crowding. Naturally, there is no proof that superbugs are coming out of the feedlots, because the feedlot owners do not allow any sort of sample collection by s…

Should someone be allowed to sneak into a company's building, or pretend to be an honest employee, just to investigate potential wrongdoing? That's the government's job, not private activists'.

If someone wants to walk into your private property and research your operations, you should have the right to tell them to beat feet. If there is a legitimate public interest then the government should create an inspection scheme; there probably should be one but that's a separate debate. But allowing guerilla espionage by activist groups is not an acceptable alternative.

Re: ‘Superbug’ scourge spreads as U.S. fails to track rising human toll

#22

Post by maxerickson » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 4:36 PM UTC

anonymfus wrote: post #20

gruyere wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

wtf is wrong with you? Edit: commenter made a pretty robotic and insensitive comment. My comment is not constructive, however it can be important to let people know when their behavior or words will have a negative impact on others. A more appropriate response would have been "Wow, that's both insensitive and unnecessary. Perhaps you should reconsider your phrasing."

Non-native speaker here, I would probably express my condolence in the same way ("I'm sorry for your loss"). What is so wrong with these words that they deserve WTF?

chmaynard decided to retract what they had said earlier.

Re: ‘Superbug’ scourge spreads as U.S. fails to track rising human toll

#23

Post by badminton1 » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 4:42 PM UTC

ocschwar wrote: post #17

Bear in mind that in the US, our lovely republican party literally made it illegal to research where the superbugs are being bred. In the US, the problem is mostly pig and cattle feedlots that rely on antibiotics to keep the animals from being sickened but he crowding. Naturally, there is no proof that superbugs are coming out of the feedlots, because the feedlot owners do not allow any sort of sample collection by s…

Farmers massively administer antibiotics so they can keep animals in crowded/unsanitary conditions. If antibiotics were administered properly that would severely affect their revenue.

Re: ‘Superbug’ scourge spreads as U.S. fails to track rising human toll

#24

Post by giarc » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 4:42 PM UTC

esaym wrote: post #14

I skimmed the article, I only saw mention of MRSA. Is that the "super bug" they talk about? This is for the most part why I won't step foot in a hospital unless I am literally on my death bed. The last research I read about MRSA (years ago) was it was hard to study because lab rats could not be easily infected with it unless it was directly injected into their blood stream. This shows just how nasty hospitals are. No…

Community acquired MRSA is quite common now.

Re: ‘Superbug’ scourge spreads as U.S. fails to track rising human toll

#25

Post by swasheck » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 4:42 PM UTC

wildmusings wrote: post #21

ocschwar wrote: post #17

Bear in mind that in the US, our lovely republican party literally made it illegal to research where the superbugs are being bred. In the US, the problem is mostly pig and cattle feedlots that rely on antibiotics to keep the animals from being sickened but he crowding. Naturally, there is no proof that superbugs are coming out of the feedlots, because the feedlot owners do not allow any sort of sample collection by s…

Should someone be allowed to sneak into a company's building, or pretend to be an honest employee, just to investigate potential wrongdoing? That's the government's job, not private activists'. If someone wants to walk into your private property and research your operations, you should have the right to tell them to beat feet. If there is a legitimate public interest then the government should create an inspection sc…

There is legitimate public interest as these sites are key components of the food production system. The point that the OP was intentionally making is that the government (via GOP leadership, apparently) has specifically excused itself from creating such an inspection scheme and done so in a way that seems comprehensive enough to understand the alternative paths "guerilla ... activist" scientists could even potentially report on such a matter.

Re: ‘Superbug’ scourge spreads as U.S. fails to track rising human toll

#26

Post by unfortunate4u33 » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 4:43 PM UTC

wildmusings wrote: post #21

ocschwar wrote: post #17

Bear in mind that in the US, our lovely republican party literally made it illegal to research where the superbugs are being bred. In the US, the problem is mostly pig and cattle feedlots that rely on antibiotics to keep the animals from being sickened but he crowding. Naturally, there is no proof that superbugs are coming out of the feedlots, because the feedlot owners do not allow any sort of sample collection by s…

Should someone be allowed to sneak into a company's building, or pretend to be an honest employee, just to investigate potential wrongdoing? That's the government's job, not private activists'. If someone wants to walk into your private property and research your operations, you should have the right to tell them to beat feet. If there is a legitimate public interest then the government should create an inspection sc…

OP: Government is actively participant in creating this issue.

You: Well we should just wait for them to fix this very serious problem they're causing.

I'm sure the party that's held social progress at bay for 40 years now is going to suddenly realize they're w... oh wait you're a fool and a coward.

Re: ‘Superbug’ scourge spreads as U.S. fails to track rising human toll

#27

Post by ocschwar » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 4:44 PM UTC

wildmusings wrote: post #21

ocschwar wrote: post #17

Bear in mind that in the US, our lovely republican party literally made it illegal to research where the superbugs are being bred. In the US, the problem is mostly pig and cattle feedlots that rely on antibiotics to keep the animals from being sickened but he crowding. Naturally, there is no proof that superbugs are coming out of the feedlots, because the feedlot owners do not allow any sort of sample collection by s…

Should someone be allowed to sneak into a company's building, or pretend to be an honest employee, just to investigate potential wrongdoing? That's the government's job, not private activists'. If someone wants to walk into your private property and research your operations, you should have the right to tell them to beat feet. If there is a legitimate public interest then the government should create an inspection sc…

>Should someone be allowed to sneak into a company's building, or pretend to be an honest employee, just to investigate potential wrongdoing? That's the government's job, not private activists'.

It was legal for the entire history of the Republic, albeit it was also grounds for civil litigation.

The GOP decided to criminalize it.

Re: ‘Superbug’ scourge spreads as U.S. fails to track rising human toll

#28

Post by alkonaut » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 4:44 PM UTC

This is why antibiotics use in livestock should be a top question in international trade. Not only should every country stop using antibiotics in healthy livestock, all imports of meat and animals from such countries should be banned, and to take it one step further - stop importing umbrellas and calculators from those countries too, in order to apply economic pressure.

Re: ‘Superbug’ scourge spreads as U.S. fails to track rising human toll

#29

Post by DanBC » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 4:44 PM UTC

esaym wrote: post #14

I skimmed the article, I only saw mention of MRSA. Is that the "super bug" they talk about? This is for the most part why I won't step foot in a hospital unless I am literally on my death bed. The last research I read about MRSA (years ago) was it was hard to study because lab rats could not be easily infected with it unless it was directly injected into their blood stream. This shows just how nasty hospitals are. No…

> Nobody gets MRSA unless they are in the hospital.

You might want to read about Community Acquired MRSA.

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/id-mi/camrsa-eng.php

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/8/6/01-0313_article

> To estimate the proportion of community-acquired MRSA, we analyzed previous hospitalizations for all MRSA-positive persons in Finland from1997 to 1999 by using data from the National Hospital Discharge Register. Of 526 MRSA-positive persons, 21% had community-acquired MRSA.

Re: ‘Superbug’ scourge spreads as U.S. fails to track rising human toll

#30

Post by jmde » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 4:44 PM UTC

wildmusings wrote: post #21

ocschwar wrote: post #17

Bear in mind that in the US, our lovely republican party literally made it illegal to research where the superbugs are being bred. In the US, the problem is mostly pig and cattle feedlots that rely on antibiotics to keep the animals from being sickened but he crowding. Naturally, there is no proof that superbugs are coming out of the feedlots, because the feedlot owners do not allow any sort of sample collection by s…

Should someone be allowed to sneak into a company's building, or pretend to be an honest employee, just to investigate potential wrongdoing? That's the government's job, not private activists'. If someone wants to walk into your private property and research your operations, you should have the right to tell them to beat feet. If there is a legitimate public interest then the government should create an inspection sc…

I sort of agree with you, but the laws overstep what I consider acceptable.

I'm fine with an operation banning employees from filming, for example, and employees getting fired for doing so, or for arresting people for trespassing.

The laws referenced by the OP go further, though, to criminalize recordings that were taken by individuals who were allowed on the property by the owner, and who were documenting what happened. In my opinion, owners have the right to fire employees who violate their policies, and to sue former and current employees for libel, but not to sue former and current employees for distributing recordings of things that actually occurred, when there's no reasonable expectation of privacy (which almost by definition is impossible in a workplace, except for maybe things like medical settings).

I agree with you, though, that if there's a public health interest, the government should create laws regarding that, or at least give authority to DPHs to do that.