As we continuously misuse antibiotics, the problem of antibiotic resistance increasingly gets worse. These are wonderful things naturally created by bacteria themselves, and we have chosen to destroy the only thing that can help us fight off bacterial infections. Great job society! Many times we think about the problems of antibiotic resistance in humans, but we have not really considered antibiotic resistance in animals and plants. These are the very foods we eat, and can have a huge influence on us and the planet. As bacteria grow resistance, it has a huge impact on our crops, the planet, and us.
Since farmers overuse antibiotics in raising animals, it creates a problem that perhaps one day these resistant bacteria could take place in people. However, the more pressing issue currently is that there are less ways to treat an animal if they get sick due to increasing resistance. Antibiotics are added to animal feed not to treat but to prevent infections. However my thing is why are you giving them medicine that they don’t need in the first place? If the animals are not sick and yet you keep giving them antibiotics, that just creates grounds for antibiotic resistant bacteria to multiply. Much of our livelihood depends on these animals, and if they become sick then that will cause a worldwide food shortage. If our food sources goes, so do we. We have to start looking for better alternatives if we want this planet to stay healthy.
The use of antibiotics is changing the soil and plants as well. Plants that receive manure from animals do not convert carbon dioxide as well, which has devastating consequences for climate change. The manure comes from animals that received antibiotics, and thus the plants released more carbon dioxide than taking in. This in turn releases more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which is causing global warming. Nature provided us with a solution to greenhouse gases, and we decided to mess up that process. If we do not make changes soon in the farming industry, antibiotic resistance could lead to food shortage and too high amounts of carbon dioxide, irreversibly.
Fluffy Cows 