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Worried About Antibiotics In Your Beef? Vegetables May Be No Better

Posted January 07, 2009 8:10 AM

From Scientific American:

For half a century, meat producers have fed antibiotics to farm animals to increase their growth and stave off infections. Now scientists have discovered that those drugs are sprouting up in unexpected places: Vegetables such as corn, potatoes and lettuce absorb antibiotics when grown in soil fertilized with livestock manure, according to tests conducted at the University of Minnesota.Today, close to 70 percent of all antibiotics and related drugs used in the United States are routinely fed to cattle, pigs and poultry, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.

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Anonymous Poster
#1

Re: Worried About Antibiotics In Your Beef? Vegetables May Be No Better

01/07/2009 1:03 PM

Finally! A compelling and scientific reason not to eat broccoli. Kids across the world will rejoice!

So...we can't eat any kind of meat because of antibiotics, mercury or ethics. We can't eat fruits and vegetables because of antibiotocs and pesticides. We can't drink water because of all those contaminants and many more.

Guess that New Year resolution to loose weight is gonna be easier than I thought.

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#2

Re: Worried About Antibiotics In Your Beef? Vegetables May Be No Better

01/08/2009 6:25 AM

Never really thought about it until I read this article. But it should have been OBVIOUS that this would happen.

You treat the soil with manure from an animal that has been pumped full of antibiotics, The manure is bound to have some of the drugs in it. Therefore when the plants use the manure they absorb the drugs.

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#3

Re: Worried About Antibiotics In Your Beef? Vegetables May Be No Better

01/08/2009 10:19 PM

Taken a step further now it spreads through out the biomes.

The rate of spread is concentrated in the predators that eat the pray that feeds on our food. Some circles turn faster and some slower but no matter how big the pool if you keep putting in chemicals that don't degrade faster than they build up in it you will have a problem with your chemical balances.

Add diverse interactions from millions of natural and man made (also natural but poorly thought out) chemicals and you have a soup of issues.

We have impacted evolution now we will have to evolve faster and smarter or not.

Brad

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Anonymous Poster
#4

Re: Worried About Antibiotics In Your Beef? Vegetables May Be No Better

09/10/2010 2:31 PM

its scary how antibiotics are in everything these days. Its no wonder super virus are sprouting up all over the place!

for other cool and amazing stories about antibiotics come check out http://www.theantibioticsblog.com

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#5
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Re: Worried About Antibiotics In Your Beef? Vegetables May Be No Better

11/12/2010 6:54 AM

The present generation can by no means think of the times when antibiotics were not available to mankind. But there actually were times when humans were treated without the aid of antibiotics. The first antibiotic appeared on the scene in the 1930's and was termed as a wonder drug - a panacea for all infectious diseases. Antibiotics acted quickly and destroyed bacteria very effectively.

As life became fast paced, so did the need to get back to work as soon as possible. The antibiotic alternative gradually ceased to be the last resort for treatment. Actually it became the first resort for treating even the common cold. Initially there was no information on micro-organisms that were resistant to antibiotics and their side effects. As new information started pouring in, it was already too late - neither doctors nor patients had time to waste on slow acting herbal antibiotics.

Antibiotics have side effects that can sometimes prove to be more difficult to manage than the ailment they are meant to cure.

Antibiotics destroy friendly bacteria along with disease-causing bacteria. The body needs friendly bacteria for a number of processes like detoxification, easy elimination of wastes and cleansing of the blood and the liver.

Over-use of antibiotics lead to their becoming ineffective due to bacterial mutation. Simply stated, it means that certain bacteria get used to a particular antibiotic and start using it for their own benefit. Penicillin and tetracycline are classic examples of how antibiotics become redundant for killing some bacterium.

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