IATP Hog Report - Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

Section 2
reach humans, including: 59 direct transmission via contaminated meat,
transmission of the gene mediating resistance to other bacterial strains
capable of infecting humans, and indirect transmission of resistant strains
via the accumulation of such strains in the environment. Fecal matter
having resistant bacteria in it can contaminate carcasses at the
slaughterhouse and remain on meat cuts that eventually reach the
consumer. Slaughterhouse workers and even farmers can harbor antibiotic
resistant bacteria and transmit them to their families.
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When pathogens are resistant to antibiotics the delay caused during
repeated efforts to find an antibiotic effective against the given pathogens
can be fatal (especially for the elderly, young children, and immunecompromised
individuals). Since some bacteria are resistant to more than
one antibiotic, it may take even longer for medical professionals to find an
antibiotic that is effective against them than if the bacteria were resistant
to only one antibiotic. An untreated or poorly-treated infection increases
the risk that the patient will die. Longer periods of infectiousness increase
the pool of infected people that are moving in the community and that
expose the general population to the risk of infection with resistant strains
of bacteria. 60
Antibiotic resistance increases costs of treatment in other ways. Older
antibiotics can be sold in generic forms that cost consumers less than
private-label drugs. However, as older antibiotics become ineffective due
to resistance, newly patented and more costly private-label antibiotics
must be used. 61
New or alternative drugs may be more toxic (that is, have stronger side
effects) or be less effective than those that would be used if the infecting
organisms had not become resistant. 62 Even alternative new drugs may be
compromised, especially if they are related to drugs originally thought to
have little potential for human use that were approved for use as growth
promoters in animals. 63 Such is the case with the newly approved
antibiotic Synercid, used for treating human disease, and also with
vancomycin, an antibiotic of last resort for certain human diseases. 64 Use
of virginia-mycin selected for enterococci with resistance to it and to
Synercid. Use of avoparcin, a growth promoter in poultry, selected for
vancomycin resistant enterococci among animals; the same vancomycinresistant
clone of enteroccocci has been found in animals and people. 65
The market for antibiotics is influenced by the levels of resistance that
exist in the microbial population. 66 Because it costs a great deal to bring a
new antibiotic on the market, drug companies have a strong incentive to
sell as much of it as possible, thus contributing to the resistance problem
that eventually necessitates new efforts be undertaken to develop a
substitute. Shareholders and investors in pharmaceutical companies