April 09, 2015
How exactly does globally increasing livestock antibiotic use adversely affect human health?
CDDEP Director Ramanan Laxminarayan was interviewed on PRI’s Living On Earth radio program to examine this question. Laxminarayan addresses how and when agricultural antibiotic use practices started, how they’ve developed to become a phenomenon not exclusive to the developed world, and the selection pressure that has caused antibiotic resistance to become a growing problem.
Listen to the show here.
From Living On Earth:
“Increasingly bacteria are developing antibiotic resistance, making us vulnerable to all sorts of superbugs. Inappropriate or over prescription for humans is one cause, but Ramanan Laxminarayan, a Princeton University Professor specializing in disease and socio-economics, tells host Steve Curwood that a larger problem could be the overuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture.”
The show is also available to listen to on PRI’s website and the transcript available here.
