>> I have a section on this illusion in my new book, Class Warfare
>> in the Information Age.-- Michael Perelman
Michael:
i see at amazon.com you have published on the economics of farming.
I saw an interesting news conference on CSPAN late last week. it covered an announcement by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) on results of studies they had completed on the effects of the 'sub-therapeutic' usage of antibiotics in agribusiness on the accelerating adaptation of bacteria into treament-resistant strains.
according to their study, fully 50% of the unneccessary application of antibiotics comes from agribusiness. and they made the point that the remaining 50% is through prescription by doctors, where there is at least an opportunity through re-education ('at the doctor's expense????') to decrease flagrant use. this is as opposed to the agricultural world, where the implication was that 'education' wouldnt have much of an effect, that agricultural companies are more 'resistant' to the guidance inherent in this kind of information.
CSPI also made the point that the adaptation of bacteria is a world-wide phenomena -- new strains do not remain localized once they come into existence, but spread rapidly.
what was also interesting about this is i believe CSPI said that these sub-therapeutic uses of antibiotics, originally used to foster growth in cattle (for example), already are showing decreased effects in that domain. so its not even clear what economic advantages they have in continuing this practice. do you know any more about this or related practices in farming?
sidenote: apparently antibiotic companies feature ads which tell children antibiotics taste real good now, and somehow -- though its hard to believe -- this in part causes (motivates??, influences???) many doctors to simply prescribe broad-spectrum drugs rather than put in the extra footwork required to more clearly define what bacteria, if any, is at work in the patient.
(do doctors require remedial skills/schools??????)
-- ____ Les Schaffer godzilla at netmeg.net ___| ------->> Engineering R&D <<-------- Theoretical & Applied Mechanics | Designspring, Inc. Westport, CT USA Center for Radiophysics & Space Research | http://www.designspring.com Cornell Univ. schaffer at tam.cornell.edu | les at designspring.com