sickly farm practices (was: Re: Remedial Class Struggle)

[Les Schaffer]

    >> 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