Friday, February 24, 2012

Science gone wrong.

We see endless movies that show scientists who believe they're "helping humanity" accidentally creating the very threats which they try to save the world from. It seems that we might be doing that right now with out livestock.

A recent article in PopSci explores the findings and beliefs of scientists who believe that the drugs we give our livestock might just be promoting "super bugs". The hormones, antibiotics and other drugs that most farmers feed their animals may just be helping the various bacteria and diseases these animals can carry become more resistant to the drugs we use to fight them.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), is a form of strep that seems to have originated on pig farms, where the animals are fed a battery of drugs to promote their growth and health. The bacteria might just be growing more and more resistant to treatment because of the high antibiotic amount in the pigs it is found in.

Are we causing our own downfall? Are we making the same mistakes those movie scientists do when they think they've found a great way to improve the world? Attempts are being made to find different ways to fight these diseases, including more "natural" cures. Progress is being made, but things take time, and hopefully we have a cure before we have an unstoppable super bug.

1 comment:

  1. Gah! This story freaks me out. Good work - watch for small grammatical things. (Punctuation goes inside quotation marks.)

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