More than 1 billion people across the world rely on fish as their main source of protein. Consequently, the world’s oceans are in trouble with marine life plummeting. More than 80 percent of the world’s fisheries are either considered fully exploited or overfished and on the brink of collapse. People who are dependent on the sea for income and food are left increasingly vulnerable. Our oceans are radically depleted. A decade-long international survey of ocean life completed in 2010 estimated that 90% of the ocean’s big fish have disappeared.

Aquaculture seems to be a sustainable solution to overfishing, but the reality is that fish farms are causing huge problems. As typical with big business, profits are more important than ecological sustainability or our health.

As the world began to attempt to limit overfishing the aquaculture industry boomed. Between 1980 and 2015, the total amount of fish production from aquaculture increased more than 16 times from 4.7mn tonnes to 76.6mn tonnes. If you eat seafood, unless you catch it yourself (or ask the right questions), it probably comes from a fish farm. More than half of the fish we consume is farmed. The aquaculture industry is growing faster than any other animal agriculture segment, overtaking beef production in 2012. A report by the Earth Policy Institute in Washington DC reported that farmed fish production reached 66 million tonnes in 2012, while beef production was at 63 million tonnes.

Recommended: Best Supplements To Kill Candida and Everything Else You Ever Wanted To Know About Fungal Infections

Why Farmed Fish Are So Toxic To the To Us and the Environment

One study showed that aquaculture in Sweden “is not only ecologically but also economically unsustainable.” Another report looked at farmed fish in Chinese lakes and concluded that  it is an “economically irrational choice from the perspective of the whole society, with an unequal tradeoff between environmental costs and economic benefits.” Aquaculture harms the environment, which eventually costs a lot of money. In the U.S., fish farming is responsible for roughly $700 million a year in environmental costs. Fish farming operations typically generate more costs than profit.

Abhorrent Conditions

Research has shown that fish feel pain and stress. Large-scale fish farm operations have fish living in extremely crowded conditions, often leaving each fish less space than the size of an average bathtub. Living in this close proximity increases infection and disease, which leads to antibiotics which further pollutes surrounding waters.

Farmed Fish Eat Their Own Shit

The feces concentration is often so great as to cause the fish to ingest their own poop, increasing the likelihood of disease. The fish poop also promotes algal growth and reduces the oxygen content in the water, which makes it harder to support life. Fish waste and uneaten feed litter the sea floor beneath fish farms contaminates the area and generates bacteria that consume oxygen vital to shellfish and other bottom-dwelling sea creatures. Reportedly, the Israeli government closed two fish farms in the Red Sea after discovering the farms were causing algal growth that was harming coral reefs.

A Cesspool of Disease

Pathogens from farmed fish pools can spread rapidly to contaminate any wild fish swimming past. Sea lice, a type of crustacean that finds captive fish on farms to be an easy target, have become huge problems for the industry. And the increased prevalence of these crustaceans due to fish farming is being blamed for reduced numbers of wild pink salmon, as well as the species that eat them, including bears, eagles, orcas and others.

Lethal viruses that are known to spread from fish farms are being detected in wild populations. Salmon leukemia virus is said to act like HIV, in that it depletes the immune system leaving animals susceptible to other infection. Infectious Salmon Anemia Virus (ISA) is also known as salmon influenza. It’s highly lethal Piscine reovirus, which degrades salmon’s heart health, causing heart attacks and preventing salmon from swimming upriver.

Toxic Antibiotics, Pesticides & Other Chemicals

Concentrated levels of antibiotics, pesticides and other chemicals used to fight infection are found in farmed fish. The effects these practices have on our environment are only beginning to be understood. One study found that a drug often used to kill sea lice will also kill other marine invertebrates, and contaminates waters at least up to half a mile away.

Recommended: Start Eating Like That and Start Eating Like This – Your Guide to Homeostasis Through Diet

Farmed Fish Food

Many farmed fish are being fed genetically modified corn and soy. Some report that in China farmed fish are often feed animal feces. One report from the USDA from 2009 stated,

[It] is common practice to let livestock and poultry roam freely in fields and to spread livestock and poultry waste on fields or use it as fish feed.”

Carnivorous Fish Farms Eat Too Much Fish

Many fish require a fish-based diet, and can require much more food than they produce. Now anchovies and herring and other small prey are being dangerously overfished to the brink of extinction in order to meet the growing demands of aquaculture. Tuna and salmon consume up to five pounds of fish for each pound of body weight.

We have caught all the big fish and now we are going after their food,”- Oceana

It’s been shown that every pound of farmed salmon needs five pounds of smaller fish to feed it.

Oceana blames aquaculture for declines in whales, dolphins, seals, sea lions, penguins, albatross and many other species.

Rather than relieving pressure on wild fish, growing these large carnivores [salmon and tuna on fish farms] requires a steady supply of prey that are caught and ground into oil and meal. As the industry grows, it is straining the existing supply of prey fish, putting additional pressure on populations that cannot supply the demand.”

Toxic, Diseased, & GMO Farmed Fish Escape

Many fish farms use netpens to confine fish in open waters. These systems are susceptible to being ripped from predators and due to storms. In the North Atlantic region alone it’s said that two million farmed salmon escape their farms each year. The result is that at least 20% of wild salmon caught in the North Atlantic are actually of farmed-fish origin. Farmed fish that escape will breed with wild fish and compromise the gene pool. Embryonic hybrid salmon, for example, are far less viable than wild salmon, and the resulting adult hybrid salmon routinely die much earlier than true wild salmon. This also harms predator populations that rely on fish like bears and orcas.

More Fat, but Less Omega 3s and Other Nutrients

Farmed salmon, for example, is much fattier than wild salmon, but it contains FAR LESS healthful omega-3 fats and less protein. The omega-3 levels in farmed salmon keep dropping with each new study.The International Fishmeal and Fish Oil Organization (IFFO) says that today’s farmed fillet contains as little as half of the omega-3s the fish had less than a decade ago. Salmon farmers in New Zealand were caught overstating the omega-3 fat levels of their fish.

Farmed salmon that is high in omega 3s get their higher levels from being fed fish oil. Like with the prey fish, the demand for fish oil is outstripping supply. This practice is becoming too expensive, and many fish are being fed cheap GMO oils to fatten them up.

Farm-raised tilapia is one of the most highly consumed fish in America. Studies show that tilapia has very low levels of beneficial omega-3 fatty acids and very high levels of inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids that may cause an “exaggerated inflammatory response.”

Recommended: What Causes Chronic Inflammation, and How To Stop It For Good

More PCBs

A report published in 2003 by the Environmental Working Group found that seven out of ten farmed salmon purchased at grocery stores in Washington DC, San Francisco, and Portland, Oregon contained PCBs at levels that raise health concerns. It’s a safe bet that these statistics have only grown worse as plastic continues to pollute our planet.

It’s said that farmed salmon are likely the most PCB-contaminated protein source in the U.S. food supply chain.

Farmed salmon are fed contaminated fishmeal. Farmed salmon are fed from a global supply of fishmeal and fish oil manufactured from small open sea fish, which studies show are the source of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, in most farmed salmon. In three independent studies scientists tested 37 fishmeal samples from six countries, and found PCB contamination in nearly every sample.” – Environmental Working Group

Recommended: How to Detox From Plastics and Other Endocrine Disruptors

China…

Chinese farmed fish accounts for about 60 percent of farmed marine products worldwide. China is the leading provider of farmed fish to the US. If you’re buying tilapia, it’s probably from China.

Excerpt from The Disgusting Truth About Fish And Shrimp From Asian Farms:

• Tilapia in China’s fish farms, are fed pig and goose manure — even though it contains salmonella and makes the tilapia “more susceptible to disease.”
• In Vietnam, farmed shrimp bound for the US market are kept fresh with heaps of ice made from tap water that teems with pathogenic bacteria.
• Bloomberg also notes that at the same company “there’s trash on the floor, and flies crawl over baskets of processed shrimp stacked in an unchilled room.”
• Like US meat farmers, Asia’s shrimp farmers rely heavily on antibiotics, many of which are banned for use in the United States.
• In May, ABC News bought 30 samples of imported farmed shrimp from across the country and had them tested for antibiotic traces. The result: Three of the samples contained detectable levels of these dangerous antibiotics.
• According to a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a quarter of the food-borne illness outbreaks caused by imported food from 2005 to 2010 involved seafood — more than any other food commodity.

Fish To Avoid and the Better Seafood Choices

Bivalves, such as oysters and mussels, can be farmed in an environmentally conscious manner because they are “filter feeders,”; they actually make the water in their ecosystem cleaner, and they are much easier to contain due to their lack of mobility. But, this means that the environment bivalves grow in should already be fairly clean, or else the seafood can transfer pollutants and other toxins to the consumer.

Alaskan salmon is not permitted to be farmed. Sockeye salmon cannot be farmed. Atlantic salmon comes from fish farms. Farmed salmon is rife with chemical contaminants ranging from pesticides and antibiotics to PCBs.

In restaurants, mislabeled salmon will typically be described as ‘wild’ but not ‘wild Alaskan.’ This is because authentic ‘wild Alaskan’ is easier to trace. The term ‘wild’ is more nebulous and therefore more often misused. In many ways it is very similar to the highly abused ‘natural’ designation. – Dr. Mercola

Atlantic Flatfish, including sole, flounder and halibut, are high in contaminants and they have a long history of being radically overfished. Pacific halibut is a safer and more environmentally friendlier option.

Almost 90 percent of catfish comes from Vietnam – a country with loose regulations on the use of dangerous antibiotics and other chemicals. Like catfish, Pollock is a mild, white fish with a delicate flavor that’s naturally low in mercury. Look for pollock from the US, Canada, and Norway which provide the most eco-friendly harvesting.

Eel, also called unagi, is primarily farmed in China.  A powerful carcinogen called nitrofuran, and many other drugs and pesticides, are used to control disease in eel farms. Eel also has plenty of mercury and cancer-causing PCBs. Squid is an eco-friendly alternative to eel.

Imported & Farm-Raised Shrimp is one of the dirtiest seafood sold. Chemical residues, antibiotics, and an assortment of other contaminants have been found in farmed shrimp. While avoiding imported, farmed shrimp can greatly reduce your exposure to contaminants, it’s important to note that 70 percent of domestic shrimp comes from the Gulf of Mexico. With the recent oil spill, this raises concern for the health of these shrimp stocks. Your best bet is MSC-certified wild-caught Pacific shrimp from Oregon.

Atlantic bluefin tuna is said to have the highest levels of mercury and they have plummeted to near-extinction levels. The eco-friendly tuna varieties (like albacore or yellowfin) areproblematicc as well. Oceana collected 1,215 samples from seafood vendors from 2010 to 2012reported that 59% of fish labeled tuna is not just mislabeled but it is almost entirely compromised of escolar, which is not likely a fish we want to be eating:

To be frankly and bluntly specific — and I’m sorry for this — consumption of escolar causes explosive, oily, orange diarrhea. People have reported that the discharges are often difficult to control and accidents can happen while passing gas.” – The Kitchn

A good alternative to tuna is the Atlantic mackerel or try sardines.  They both are high in omega-3s, and they don’t have the high levels of mercury and other contaminants that tuna accumulates.

Tilapia from overseas fish farms have a bad reputation due to the aforementioned practices, but tilapia farmed in the U.S. and Canada typically use closed recirculating tank systems that alleviate many of the problems like water pollution and fish escapes. In Ecuador, tilapia are typically farmed in low-density freshwater ponds, which eliminate overcrowding and reduces disease. Tilapia are fed a mostly grain-based diet, so they don’t deplete prey-fish resources.

Farmed Seafood Documentaries

Sources:

• Six Toxic Fish (Plus Safe and Delicious Alternatives) – US Wellness Meats
• Farmed fish overtakes farmed beef for first time – New Scientist
• 9 Things Everyone Should Know About Farmed Fish – Mind Body Green
• The Disgusting Truth About Fish And Shrimp From Asian Farms – Business Insider
• Wake Forest Researchers Say Popular Fish Contains Potentially Dangerous Fatty Acid Combination – Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center
• Aquaculture: 8 Fishy Facts – China Water Risk
• Six Toxic Fish (Plus Safe and Delicious Alternatives) – Grassland Beef
• The truth about tilapia – Fox News
• Is Farmed Salmon Losing its Omega-3 Edge? – CivilEats
• Wild Atlantic and Farmed Salmon – Slowfood
• New Zealand farmed salmon not as green as claimed, says consumer group – Food Navigator
• Salomon Farming Problems – Farmed and Dangerous
• Farmed and Dangerous: Sea Lice – Farmed and Dangerous
• Farmed and Dangerous: SLICE – Farmed and Dangerous
• Farmed and Dangerous: Escapes and Alien Species – Farmed and Dangerous

The mention of fur causes the majority of us to scowl a little. Most of us know how cruel, barbaric, and inhumane the fur trade is. But what about leather? It’s time to shed light on the leather industry.

Leather is a cloth-like material made from the hide or skin of an animal. Cows provide the bulk of leather we use, but goats, pigs, and sheep are in high demand, and reptile skins are also sold at a premium. If you’re like most consumers, you assume that leather is a byproduct of the meat industry, save the reptile skins.

And, the fact is that most of the cow leather that comes from cows is taken from those cows slaughtered for their meat or from dairy cows that no longer produce enough milk. But, that’s not the whole story. It’s assumed that the hide is ‘leftover’, and it will go to waste if it’s not used. This is a common misconception. Also, much of cow leather and in many other animals hides that are produced and sold do come from animals that are killed primarily, or only, for their skins. Leather makes up around 10% of a cows total value. This means that the hide of a cow, not the meat, is the most valuable part of the cow, pound for pound.

Recommended: Best Supplements To Kill Candida and Everything Else You Ever Wanted To Know About Fungal Infections

The demand for leather is increasing, along with the demand for more exotic, luxurious leather goods. The more sought-after, expensive, and  “luxurious” (i.e. soft and thin) hide-material comes from veal calves. The leather sometimes comes from unborn calves taken prematurely from their mother’s wombs. In countries where animal protection laws are weak or non-existent, animals are often killed only for their hides, even when endangered or threatened. Thank consumer demand.

Leather production damages local ecosystems. The chemicals used to produce leather are extremely volatile. The toxic waste from making leather is often dumped illegally, polluting groundwater and rivers.

India and China are two of the biggest producers of leather in the world, and welfare laws there are either non-existent, lax, or seldom if ever enforced. China is the world’s leading exporter of leather, and they aren’t picky about their choices of animal hide. An estimated two million cats and dogs are killed for their skins, and most consumers have no idea what country these hides are coming from, or even from which animals the hide came from.

Recommended: Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones

https://www.facebook.com/lightmoveme/videos/1177183282403351/

Even worse, the production of leather involves unbelievable barbarity and cruelty. Even the animals one would suspect were hunted (pythons, alligators, lizards, stingrays, etc) may have been farm raised for their skins in abysmal conditions. In India, a PETA investigation witnessed the practice of breaking the cows’ tails and rubbing chili pepper and tobacco into the cow’s eyes in order to force them to get up and walk after collapsing from exhaustion on the way to their slaughterhouse.

Let’s take a moment to consider that last fact. Can you imagine going out like that? Can you imagine your last days on this miserable planet consisting walking to your death at the behest of chili peppers and tobacco in the eyes? We’re well past beleiving that animals don’t feel pain, right?

Much of the most heinous abuses are due to the fact that the world leather trade is mostly clandestine and illegal – and the authorities that could stop it are routinely bribed to let it continue. Hindus hold the cow in special esteem, and Jains, a hindu sect, regard all life as so sacred that they avoid hurting insects. But investigations have shown that all pf India’s major communities are complicit in the cruel treatment of their sacred cows.

If you don’t want to contribute to the leather industry, don’t! Natural and synthetic cruelty-free alternatives are available, Checkout MooShoes, Beyond Skin, Vegan Essentials, Alternative Outfitters and Vaute Couture. Vote with your wallet, read the labels, Google the companies, and support smaller ethical companies that consider their impact on the planet.

Excerpt from Peta’s 14 Things the Leather Industry Doesn’t Want You to See

1. Every year, the global leather industry slaughters more than a billion animals.

2. If you’re wearing leather, it probably came from China or India.

In China, there are no penalties for abusing animals on farms.

3. Along with cattle, other animals—including sheep, dogs, and cats—are killed for their skin in China.

Dog and cat leather is often intentionally mislabeled, so you could be wearing dog leather and not even know it.

4. In India, animals fare no better.

India’s animal-protection laws are also rarely enforced.

5. In India, cows are forced to march for days—without food or water—to their own deaths.

6. Cattle who collapse from exhaustion have their tails broken or chili peppers rubbed into their eyes in order to force them to keep moving.

7. There’s virtually no way to tell where leather comes from.

Even if a product says that it was made in Italy or the U.S., the raw materials probably came from India or China.

Click here for the rest of 14 Things the Leather Industry Doesn’t Want You to See

Sources:

• The Global Leather Trade – PETA
• Vegan Guide to Leather Alternatives 2018 Edition – The Vegan Resource Group
• Is your leather from China? It might be made of dog or cat skin – The Guardian

The Trump administration officially withdrew an Obama-era rule for higher standards regarding the treatment of animals whose meat will be sold under the organic label.

The standards were first created in 2016 under the United States Department of Agriculture. The rules had not been put in place yet. The USDA officially overturned the rule Monday, after delaying its implementation three times.

The rule would have required poultry to be housed in spaces large enough to move freely and fully stretch their wings. Livestock would be required to have some access to outdoor space year round.

The existing robust organic livestock and poultry regulations are effective. The organic industry’s continued growth domestically and globally shows that consumers trust the current approach that balances consumer expectations and the needs of organic producers and handlers.” – Greg Ibach, USDA Marketing and Regulatory Program Undersecretary

At this time animals must be raised without antibiotics or growth hormones, and the animal feed needs to be organic well. Clarity around animal welfare and living conditions is lacking. Many organic hens and cows live in similar conditions as their factory-farmed counterparts, with no room to move and little to no significant outside access. The USDA estimates that half of all organic eggs are produced from hens living in total confinement.

Consumers trust that the Organic seal stands for a meaningful difference in production practices. It makes no sense that the Trump Administration would pursue actions that could damage a marketplace that is giving American farmers a profitable alternative, creating jobs, and improving the economies of our rural areas.” – Organic Trade Association

The proposed rule drew 47,000 comments, with only 28 supporting the withdrawal, according to data compiled by the Organic Trade Association.

This is representative of the influence lobbyists and election money has at the Trump administration’s USDA.” – Mark Kastel, co-director of Cornucopia Institute

Six out of 10 Americans feel that animals used to produce organic food should be raised on farms with higher animal welfare standards. More than half of Americans believe such animals should be allowed time outside and room to move freely.

Source:

• Trump Administration Eliminates Animal Welfare Rule – Newsweek

Sudan was our last male northern white rhino. He was 45. Sudan was suffering from multiple infections in his advanced age. He was euthanized Monday by a veterinary team in Kenya, a tam that had fought for years to save him.

We at Ol Pejeta are all saddened by Sudan’s death. He was an amazing rhino, a great ambassador for his species, and will be remembered for the work he did to raise awareness globally of the plight facing not only rhinos, but also the many thousands of other species facing extinction as a result of unsustainable human activity.

One day, his demise will hopefully be seen as a seminal moment for conservationists worldwide.” – Richard Vigne, Ol Pejeta Conservancy CEO

Rhinos around the world are on the brink of extinction, and this is mostly due to poaching. Rhino horn has been highly prized in Chinese traditional medicine and as a decorative component of daggers carried by many Yemeni men. Around 30,000 rhinos from five species remain worldwide. Two species in Indonesia, the Sumatran and Javan rhinos, have around or less than 100 individuals.

Must Read: Drinking Bottled Water Means Drinking Microplastics, According To Damning New Study

Sudan spent the last years of his life under 24-hour protection from armed guards. His horn had been chopped off to deter poachers, though it had begun to grow back. His guards regularly foiled poaching attacks. But the effort to save the northern white rhino seems to have come too late for a real turnaround.

But the Subspecies May Still Survive

Researchers saved the sperm from Sudan, and from four other male northern white rhinos before they died. They think they might be able to produce a calf via in vitro fertilization. The researchers would fertilize one of the female eggs with the frozen sperm. The team could then use a female of a closely related species, the southern white rhino, as a surrogate.

Must Read: Trump Tells EPA to Dismantle Clean Water Rules

If that doesn’t work, scientists could potentially transform northern white rhino skin cells into stem cells. They would then coax those stem cells into eggs. They would then fertilize the eggs.

Since the last two remaining northern white rhinos are closely related there would need to be a way to diversify the subspecies. The stem cell option could help with that, as scientists could use any samples from any of the deceased rhino.

Many conservationists think we’d be better off spending that money elsewhere. The cost is at $800,000 to $10 million per attempt. We’re in the middle of a mass extinction, as and this scares the hell out of anyone who understands how systems work. Do you think the northern white rhino is deserving of such incredible expense to bring it back from extinction or is our money spent better elsewhere?

Sources:

• The Last Male Northern White Rhino Is Dead, but the Subspecies Could Still Survive – Futurism
• World’s last male northern white rhino has died – The Mercury News

The Tampa Bay Times attempted to obtain information on the results of the USDA inspections for the facilities of 15 puppy mills that supply puppies to pet stores in the Tampa, Florida area last May. Any citizen trying to make sure they buy puppies from trusted breeders could have looked up this information in minutes on the USDA’s website during the Obama administration. It tooks nine months to get an answer with the current administration in power. When the USDA finally replied the answer was pages of totally blacked-out material.

It took nine months, but the reply arrived last week: 54 pages of total blackout.”

Every word of every inspection — from the date to the violations — were redacted from the documents provided.” – Tampa Bay Times

For those of you familiar with the types of abuses that can take place at puppy mills, even those regularly inspected by the Department of Agriculture, that statement goes against every reason for conducting inspections in the first place. Animal abuse, injuries to the animals, use of expired medicine, unsanitary conditions detrimental to the health of the puppies, all are conditions that the agency has found.

Lax laws have allowed these despicable outfits to remain in operation for years, and it’s only recently that many (but not all) states have begun cracking down on them. The conditions some of the dogs are kept in is horrendous, amounting to little more than torture camps, all in the name of cranking out as many purebred puppies as possible to sell for a profit.

Florida right now is that the Republican-controlled legislature is considering a Republican-sponsored bill to prevent local municipalities from banning the sale of dogs from any breeder that is licensed by the USDA.

Recommended: Start Eating Like That and Start Eating Like This – Your Guide to Homeostasis Through Diet

With no information on the track records of these licensed breeders, however, the bill ensures that pet businesses can’t be shut down by local officials for any reason, even animal abuse, as long as they keep their USDA license. And with no way of getting access to the USDA data on the puppy breeders, consumers will have no way of knowing if they are buying a lovingly raised healthy puppy or an unhealthy, disease-ridden, abused animal that will require costly veterinary treatment and display behavioral problems.

Even the lobbyist for the Florida pet stores pushing for the bill thinks that the lack of transparency in the Trump administration’s new policy is misguided at the very least.

Recommended: Trump Wants Death Penalty For Dangerous Drug Dealers – But who Are the Dangerous Ones?

A poacher hunting lions has been killed and eaten by the very pride of lions he was hunting.

At a private game reserve in South Africa the hunter was heard screaming for help as he was attacked at the Ingwelala Private Nature Reserve in Hoedspruit outside Phalaborwa. The lions were chased off, but only after they quickly devoured much of the body, leaving a bloody mess, and leaving the poachers head seemingly untouched.

A scream was heard and the lions were scattered by the sound of gunshots but it was too late to do anything for him. He was eaten.”

It seems the victim was poaching in the game park when he was attacked and killed by lions.” – Limpopo police spokesman Moatshe Ngoepe told AFP.

At first the police believed the dead man was a tractor driver working at the game reserve. When that person was discovered alive and well they realized the severed head was likely that of a poacher. A loaded hunting rifle and ammunition were found at the gruesome scene.The dead man was not carrying documents. Police called in the Department of Home Affairs assist them to identify the body. Police Lieutenant-Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe said:

The process of identifying this body has already commenced and it might be made easier as his head was amongst the remains found at the scene.”

Some of our best:

• Sugar Leads to Depression – World’s First Trial Proves Gut and Brain are Linked (Protocol Included)
• Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included
• Start Eating Like That and Start Eating Like This – Your Guide to Homeostasis Through Diet
• How to Make the Healthiest Smoothies – 4 Recipes
• Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones

Researchers in the United Kingdom have found that supermarket chickens have a higher proportion of Campylobacter bacteria than they did ten years ago. Drug-resistant Campylobacter is a major cause of concern for health officials, with more than 300,000 infections a year in the U.S. causing symptoms like diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramps, and temporary paralysis. The elevated levels of this pathogen in supermarket protein confirm what scientists and medical professionals have increasingly been saying – treating food animals for long periods with antibiotics intended for human use has caused a major health crisis.

Dangerous Practices

If we are unable to find an answer to antibiotic-resistant pathogens, the World Health Organization predicts that they will kill more people than cancer does by the year 2050. Even major pharmaceutical companies like GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer are beginning to recognize the severity of this issue, removing or adjusting sales incentives related to the sale of antibiotics. Yet British and European authorities still allow chickens to be treated with fluoroquinolone antibiotics, that have been restricted by the FDA for human use.

The Tipping Point

Pharmaceuticals have been slow to develop new antibiotics, and farmers continue to use medication intended for human use on their food animals. At some point, something will need to change. So what can you do right now?

The easiest and most obvious way to protect yourself is to avoid antibiotics, through what you consume and the medications you take. Conventionally raised meat and dairy are a key factor in the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and should be avoided.  While antibiotics may be necessary in some cases, they are prescribed far too often in the modern medical system. Fortifying your immune system decreases the likelihood of catching a bug that would need antibiotic treatment.

Sources:

• Chickens From British Supermarket Show Record Levels of Antibiotic Superbugs – Collective Evolution
• Biggest Threats – CDC.gov
• Be Warned: FDA Issues New Stronger Warnings About Risks of Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics – Collective Evolution
• Four companies move to decouple antibiotic sales volumes from sales agents’ bonuses – Access to Medicine Foundation