Barbara H. Peterson
Antibacterial resistance. You’ve heard of it. Everyone has. Hospitals are rife with it and it makes treating diseases with antibiotics next to impossible if resistance has been acquired.
…what occurs more often than mutation-derived resistance is the spread of antibiotic resistance through horizontal gene transfer, which occurs when genetic material from bacteria, such as plasmids, transposons, or DNA are passed from cell to cell. Through this mechanism, bacteria can even develop multi-drug resistance. Even when a singular antibiotic is used for more than ten days, multidrug resistance develops to structurally unrelated drugs as the resistant bacteria recruit resistance genes from other bacteria in the environment, encouraging the development of “super-bugs.”
There is also another term being bandied about: Antimicrobial resistance. So, what is the difference?
The term “antimicrobials” include all agents that act against all types of microorganisms – bacteria (antibacterial), viruses (antiviral), fungi (antifungal) and protozoa (antiprotozoal).
The term “antibacterials,” being the largest and most widely known and studied class of antimicrobials
http://amrls.cvm.msu.edu/pharmacology/antimicrobials/antimicrobials-an-introduction
In a nutshell, a bacterium is in a class of microbes. If something is bacterial, then it is microbial, but not necessarily the other way around.
So, when we find information that states there is a worldwide antimicrobial resistance crisis, we must understand that antimicrobial resistance encompasses “an ever-increasing range of infections caused by bacteria, parasites, viruses and fungi,” not just bacterial.
Last week brought renewed interest in the worldwide antimicrobial resistance crisis, which has a potentially devastating effect on human beings, livestock, and the global economy. This interest was stimulated by the publication on Dec 11, 2014, of Antimicrobial Resistance: Tackling a Crisis for the Health and Wealth of Nations, from the Review of Antimicrobial Resistance, led by economist Jim O’Neill and informed by two reports prepared by consultants KPMG and RAND Europe; and by the first annual progress and implementation report on antimicrobial resistance by the UK Government, following their 2013 5-year strategy plan…
…In international circles, the UK is presenting a unified approach from the Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Veterinary Officer, and together with bodies such as WHO, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, and the World Economic Forum, a steering committee is aiming to put antimicrobial resistance on the international agenda, and to raise interest and support for reducing the use of antimicrobial drugs at all levels of society from local through to global.
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2814%2962412-0/fulltext
Evidently, we have a severe problem on our hands, which is global, and being addressed by the UK, WHO, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, and the World Economic Forum. The focus of the steering committee’s approach to the crisis is to reduce the use of antimicrobial drugs at all levels of society.
Here is the million dollar question of the day:
Is it mere coincidence that Glyphosate was patented as an antimicrobial as well as a metal chelator, is being spread around the world like cheap champagne at a redneck wedding, and that antimicrobial resistance is a worldwide problem?
The 2 million dollar question of the day:
Will the use of massive amounts of Glyphosate even be considered a factor in the discussions? Will the question even be asked?
The European Union does not publish data on the use of individual pesticides, making it difficult to find out how much Glyphosate is being used by farmers. However, surveys in individual countries give some indication. Glyphosate is the top ranked herbicide in UK arable crop production. In Denmark, Glyphosate accounts for 35% of all pesticides used in agricultural production. In Germany, it has been estimated that Glyphosate is used on 4.3 million hectares (39%) of agricultural land each year, with nearly two thirds applied to just 3 crops – oilseed rape, winter wheat and winter barley. It is estimated that 50%to 60% of sunflower crops in France, Romania and Hungary are treated before harvest with Glyphosate. It is the most commonly used herbicide in commercial fruit orchards in the UK.
Worldwide, around 650,000 tonnes of Glyphosate products were used in 2011, and sales were worth around US$6.5 billion in 2010, more than the value of all other herbicides combined. And its use keeps increasing, in large part because of the production of GM crops. One industry analyst is predicting global Glyphosate use could double by 2017.
http://www.foeeurope.org/sites/default/files/press_releases/foee_1_introducing_glyphosate.pdf
And the obvious answer to the 2 million dollar question of the day is……
Not if Monsanto has its way.
©2015 Barbara H. Peterson
Tags: antibiotic resistance, antimicrobial resistance, Barbara H. Peterson, Farm Wars, farmwars, glyphosate, Health, herbicide, monsanto
Hey Patrick,
Thanks. All I heard was “hard water.” Point of fact: this glyphosate situation’s crazy. I don’t know if there is a way to offset the effects of its ingestion. Probiotics… Ha ha ha. No, this is one of the most chilling issues of our time. Every time an NPR addict comes across this type of info (such as the many good articles on this site) we get another convert. But the sad fact is, opening your eyes to the glyphosate issue is like leaving safety and falling off a cliff. It is a major shift in world view to see junk science used to poison people worldwide as such, and not as the NPR and major media apologists insist is an honest effort at feeding the world. All the best.
Hi Gabriel,
Any clinical references would be appreciated. There was a little confusion out there if the water was hard or just full of heavy metals. I guess heavy metals would make water hard, you wouldn’t want to drop a bucket of it on your toe. Reports also included that the farmers were dehydrated when they consumed the water, so we are just trying to sort through the variables.
@Patrick Jordan: I believe the kidney failure cases are reported from those drinking hard water while exposed to glyphosate. The thought is the minerals cause the glyphosate to hang out longer and cause damage — it doesn’t just become neutralized.
Hi Barbara,
This situation seems grim but my email team has been looking in to ways to disable RoundUp. It is considered a weak acid so things like calcium/hard water, baking soda, charcoal and clay have been listed as antagonists. I am not a doctor I cannot give medical advice and I am not advocating the ingestion of these substances but we have referenced articles that mention this. My point being this: It appears that since Glycine is the backbone of all amino acids and that glyphosate is a molecule based on that, then glyphosate might be a metabolic tool or requirement for these lab-grade pathogens. If the glyphosate was disabled then the bugs couldn’t eat. If the bugs can’t eat they can’t replicate. It may be more complicated than this and when you are talking about engineered organisms there may be booby traps and failsafes engineered into them, but always remember that they don’t release weapons unless they have an OFF switch just in case the critters get out of Their control. Of course, the only answer is to stop all of these chemical assaults and punish the perpetraitors. The current economy would collapse because of that, but then that would just be Nature asserting itself.