Originally published July 3 2014
Germs becoming resistant as organizations call for passing of PARA - Preventing Antibiotic Resistance Act
by Michael Bedar
(NaturalNews) A flood of letters and signatures to end antibiotics in animal agriculture is being called for by supporters of the Preventing Antibiotic Resistance Act (PARA), Senate Bill 1256.
The case of a mother from Maryland exemplifies antibiotic resistance
A mom named Nicole, from Kensington, Maryland, developed an antibiotic-resistant infection that changed her life, even though Nicole sticks to organic food and grows her own vegetable garden. After three-and-a-half weeks of breastfeeding her newborn baby, Thomas, she developed an infected milk duct.
"It's very painful," Nicole said. "You're supposed to work through it... but it got worse and worse. On a scale of 1 to 10, the pain became a 30."
When antibiotics didn't work for Nicole, it took a scrambling group of multiple hospitals and private doctors' offices to discover that Nicole had antibiotic-resistant MRSA in her breast. The infection then spread to her breast milk, putting her newborn at risk.
Big Ag's animal practices rob people of key life experiences
"It was devastating to me... the worst thing for me, worse than the pain, was being told I couldn't breastfeed anymore. They robbed me of that experience with my child," said Nicole.
It took over four months for Nicole to finally beat her antibiotic-resistant infection. The unfortunate reality is that she is not alone - 2 million Americans experience antibiotic-resistant infections every year, resulting in at least 23,000 deaths.
Nicole's story has prompted the organization, Food and Water Watch, to post a campaign in support of bills which would stop factory farms' misuse of antibiotics.
"People like Nicole," says FWW, "shouldn't have to go through that kind of ordeal and miss out on some of the most valuable and rewarding experiences of their lives just so factory farms can cut corners and turn a bigger profit."
Prevention of mutated germs will improve health for everyone and make antibiotics less necessary for humans, too
Even in cases where antibiotics can be truly life-saving, such as with burned firefighters and victims of crimes, the effectiveness of both natural remedies and medical antibiotics are at risk from the constant, low-level antibiotic use.
Factory farms are a breeding ground for antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Every single day, factory farms are feeding their animals regular doses of antibiotics to make them grow faster and to prevent disease in filthy, crowded living conditions, creating superbugs that are resistant to antibiotics. In fact, the factory farming industry uses a whopping 80 percent of the antibiotics sold in the U.S, regardless of the consequences.
This public health crisis is preventable. This petition an opportunity to express to your Congressperson that you don't want to endanger people and the ecology with antibiotic misuse for nothing but its profitability: http://act.foodandwaterwatch.org
Food and Water Watch says this campaign to stop factory farms from abusing antibiotics exists because members of Congress won't act unless people spread the word and build public pressure to convince their lawmakers to save lives.
PAMTA and PARA
Two bills - one in the U.S. Senate, the other in the U.S. House of Representatives - would stop the use of unnecessary antibiotics in livestock. The bills are HR 1150, the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA) and S 1256, the Preventing Antibiotic Resistance Act (PARA).
The bills would ban medically important antibiotics from being used for unnecessary non-therapeutic purposes in livestock. The status quo on factory farms of giving their livestock low doses of antibiotics, even when they aren't sick, is directly leading to the creation of resistant bacteria that could become a serious human health threat.
Food and Water Watch's campaign to stop this threat is here: http://act.foodandwaterwatch.org
Sources for this article include:
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org
http://act.foodandwaterwatch.org/site/R?i=6GHdJR6v2re4IZX6nn9oHA
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/s1256/text
http://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/1150
About the author:
Michael Bedar MA, BS, is the co-founder of YoelMedia.com. He is a writer of both nonfiction and allegories. As a researcher, writer, holistic wellness counselor, certified Live-Food Nutrition Counselor, and filmmaker, he is the associate producer with a founding role in the documentary, "Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days" and is the writer-director of "EcoParque." Bedar, who studied Cognitive Science and Environmental Chemistry, teaches meditation weekly in the San Francisco Bay Area, and supports people to benefit in their wellness through nutrition support, juice cleanses, and counseling. He has a master's in Live-Food Nutrition from the Cousens School of Holistic Wellness, is a minister, and is co-director of Tree of Life - Bay Area.
Michael Bedar MA, BS, is the co-founder of YoelMedia.com. He is a writer of both nonfiction and allegories. As a researcher, writer, holistic wellness counselor, certified Live-Food Nutrition Counselor, and filmmaker, he is the associate producer with a founding role in the documentary, "Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days" and is the writer-director of "EcoParque." Bedar, who studied Cognitive Science and Environmental Chemistry, teaches meditation weekly in the San Francisco Bay Area, and supports people to benefit in their wellness through nutrition support, juice cleanses, and counseling. He has a master's in Live-Food Nutrition from the Cousens School of Holistic Wellness, is a minister, and is co-director of Tree of Life - Bay Area.
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