The agriculture “industry” threatens us all at many levels: GMO, vitiated foods (short of nutrients), antibiotic resistance, monoclonal species (risk of world crop wipe-outs, like the Irish potato famine).
The truth is it gets into our lives whether we go anywhere near the countryside or not. It comes to us, through food products and other derivations.
We all know the problem of MRSA and other resistant bacteria species. Now a new Dutch study has been showing that living near livestock may raise your risk of picking up the “superbug,” methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
That might seem almost obvious. But it applies to people who do not work down on the farm and who have no known contact with livestock. This has enormous importance for world-wide public health.
When livestock-associated MRSA was first discovered in the Netherlands in 2003, it was almost exclusively found in persons with direct contact to livestock. The risk factor was proportionate to the local density of farm animals. Again: no surprise there.
But how is it getting to people with no association with animals? That’s the worry.
Also, the risk factor seems to relate to the type of animals. The density of veal calves, pigs or cattle doubles the risk. Intense pig farming in the USA could pose a special risk problem here (think back to the weird swine flu of 2009). In other territories, different animals raised the risk factor from between 25 and 77 percent.
What this means is that small localized farming communities offer the best way forward, without vast-scale AgriBusiness greed putting us all at risk. Buy local as much as you can and support your local famers.
Also, you MUST get yourself a copy of my book explaining hundreds of natural, holistic ways to protect yourself against bacteria in this age of antibiotic resistance.
As I keep saying “the golden age of antibiotics is over”! You need to read How To Survive In A World Without Antibiotics.
This is serious!
[SOURCE: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, news release, Oct. 10, 2012]