Many information campaigns ask us to have a reasoned consumption of antibiotics in order to avoid developing resistance. But what if, in the end, the problem was not really in household consumption but in the agrifood industry? Aidan Hollis, and Ziana Ahamed, economics professors, take stock of the overuse of antibiotics in the food industry and the development of bacteria resistant to these treatments. In the United States, 80% of antibiotics are used in agriculture and aquaculture to increase food production. And, this stream of antibiotics that feeds livestock, poultry and salmon is released into the environment and sprayed onto fruit trees. This practice of overconsumption leads bacteria to evolve and become resistant.
A threat to public health
“But modern medicine relies on the ability of antibiotics to destroy bacterial infections,” explains Hollis. “It is extremely important that antibiotics are effective, to prevent ordinary infections from killing healthy people.” In addition, “with this abusive practice, bacteria resistant to antibiotics will prosper and very quickly” adds the professor of economics.
He recalls that “the situation could be considerably alleviated by the imposition of a user fee on non-human uses of antibiotics”. And that “the use of antibiotics in agriculture does not allow us to produce much more and generate exceptional gains. He concludes that “the real value of antibiotics is in saving people and everything else is trivial. “
Antibiotic resistance: a huge financial cost
Studies have already estimated that in the United States, antibiotic resistance costs 20 billion dollars in health costs, and generates a loss of productivity of 35 billion dollars.
Misuse and overuse of antibiotics are the most important factors leading to antibiotic resistance. “Whenever antibiotics are used in any setting, bacteria evolve to develop resistance. This process can be happening at an alarming rate, ”said Steve Solomon, director of CDC. “These drugs are a precious and limited resource, the more we use antibiotics today, the less likely we are to have effective antibiotics tomorrow.”