15-10-2003, 00:25
Most esteemed regional delegates,
October 15th marks the last day to support the proposal, "Reduce Antibiotic Resistance." This proposal is critical to slow down the development of deadly strains of bacteria that resist treatment.
Diseases immune to all of our first-line antibiotics--Penicillin, Erythromycin, Tetracycline, Cipro, and others--are already becoming increasingly common. So far, medical research has managed to keep one step ahead of the bacteria: By the time they can become immune to all of our current drugs, medical researchers have had time to create a new one.
But at the current rate of bacterial evolution, this cannot last. Developing new drugs usually takes over five years, and the bacteria are catching up to us fast. It will not be long before scourges that we thought were thoroughly behind us--tuberculosis, plague, staph infections, fatal strep throat--rise up again, immune to the precious lines of defence our medical community has struggled so hard to erect.
The only way to prevent this nightmare scenario is to slow down the rate of bacterial evolution. The only way to do this is to expose bacteria to antibiotics less frequently--in particular, to strongly reduce needless distibution of antibiotics whose proper use is the treatment of dangerous diseases.
The proposal, "Reduce Antibiotic Resistance," eliminates one of the most common abuses of our pool of antibiotics: Feeding them to livestock that are not sick and are not at elevated risk of any particular disease.
This does not make the livestock healthier. Rather, by killing beneficial bacteria that live in the animals' guts and actually contribute to vitamin absorption (but absorb some calories themselves), this procedure actually makes the animals less healthy--and may make their meat less nutritious--but increases their size. Worse, it encourages the development of strains of bacteria resistant to the antibiotics, so that when the drugs are used on sick people, they do nothing.
We appreciate the support of the delegates who have endorsed this resolution--32 at the time of this writing. We are making this 11th-hour appeal to try to get the remaining support needed for this critical resolution.
Sincerely,
Miranda Googleplex, United Nations Ambassador
Fiona Bixby, Surgeon General
Gronk van der Hoek, Scientist General
Frogbottom Washington, Secretary of Nature and the Environment
Community of Gurthark
October 15th marks the last day to support the proposal, "Reduce Antibiotic Resistance." This proposal is critical to slow down the development of deadly strains of bacteria that resist treatment.
Diseases immune to all of our first-line antibiotics--Penicillin, Erythromycin, Tetracycline, Cipro, and others--are already becoming increasingly common. So far, medical research has managed to keep one step ahead of the bacteria: By the time they can become immune to all of our current drugs, medical researchers have had time to create a new one.
But at the current rate of bacterial evolution, this cannot last. Developing new drugs usually takes over five years, and the bacteria are catching up to us fast. It will not be long before scourges that we thought were thoroughly behind us--tuberculosis, plague, staph infections, fatal strep throat--rise up again, immune to the precious lines of defence our medical community has struggled so hard to erect.
The only way to prevent this nightmare scenario is to slow down the rate of bacterial evolution. The only way to do this is to expose bacteria to antibiotics less frequently--in particular, to strongly reduce needless distibution of antibiotics whose proper use is the treatment of dangerous diseases.
The proposal, "Reduce Antibiotic Resistance," eliminates one of the most common abuses of our pool of antibiotics: Feeding them to livestock that are not sick and are not at elevated risk of any particular disease.
This does not make the livestock healthier. Rather, by killing beneficial bacteria that live in the animals' guts and actually contribute to vitamin absorption (but absorb some calories themselves), this procedure actually makes the animals less healthy--and may make their meat less nutritious--but increases their size. Worse, it encourages the development of strains of bacteria resistant to the antibiotics, so that when the drugs are used on sick people, they do nothing.
We appreciate the support of the delegates who have endorsed this resolution--32 at the time of this writing. We are making this 11th-hour appeal to try to get the remaining support needed for this critical resolution.
Sincerely,
Miranda Googleplex, United Nations Ambassador
Fiona Bixby, Surgeon General
Gronk van der Hoek, Scientist General
Frogbottom Washington, Secretary of Nature and the Environment
Community of Gurthark