A survey of Science Daily articles over the past couple of years reveals a series of articles that begin to question the effect of the agricultural use of antibiotics on human and environmental health.  “There is an increasing concern that sub-therapeutic feeding of antibiotics in animal agriculture is increasing microbial resistance in the environment,” posited a 2004 article about a new surface and groundwater antibiotic-detection technique.  The article also states that as much as 90% of antibiotics fed to food animals are excreted unchanged in animal feces and urine. 

Another article, this one written in 2006, notes the large amounts of antibiotics used in fish farming, which are often non-biodegradable and remain in the aquaculture environment for long periods of time.  “Eventually this process could lead to increased antibiotic resistance in the ‘disease-causing’ bacteria (pathogens) of fish,” the article states.  “The properties which make bacteria resistant can also be transferred to human and animal pathogens, leading to increased infectious disease in fish, animals and humans alike.” 

A final Science Daily article, published last week, estimates, staggeringly, that between 9 and 13 million kilograms of antibiotics are used annually in the US for raising livestock.  Given that manure is one of organic agriculture’s foremost forms of fertilizer, and that current organic regulations do not formally ban or prohibit manures containing antibiotics, and given the earlier comment that antibiotics are often transferred unchanged into the animal’s feces, what does that mean about the plants we then grow?  You got it: “concentrations of antibiotics were found in the plant leaves.  Concentrations in plant tissue also increased as the amount of antibiotics present in the manure increased.”  Sweet.  “[Antibiotics] also diffused into potato tubers, which suggests that root crops, such as potatoes, carrots, and radishes, that directly come in contact with soil may be particularly vulnerable to antibiotic contamination.” 

So, we’ve got traces of antibiotics in our fish, our meat, our water, our soil and our vegetables.  And what else, then?  Ourselves, of course.