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E-M:/ Rogue genetic snippets spread antibiotic resistance; ? role of commercial livestock operations
- Subject: E-M:/ Rogue genetic snippets spread antibiotic resistance; ? role of commercial livestock operations
- From: "Ted Schettler" <tschettler@igc.org>
- Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:04:56 -0500
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Enviro-Mich message from "Ted Schettler" <tschettler@igc.org>
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http://discovermagazine.com/2008/mar/14-dna-pollution-may-be-spawning-killer-microbes
DNA Pollution May Be Spawning Killer Microbes
02.14.2008
Rogue genetic snippets spread antibiotic resistance all over the
environment.
by Jessica Snyder Sachs
Storteboom and Pruden are at the leading edge of an international forensic
investigation into a potentially colossal new health threat: DNA pollution.
Specifically, the researchers are seeking out snippets of rogue genetic
material that transforms annoying bacteria into unstoppable supergerms,
immune to many or all modern antibiotics. Over the past 60 years, genes for
antibiotic resistance have gone from rare to commonplace in the microbes
that routinely infect our bodies. The newly resistant strains have been
implicated in some 90,000 potentially fatal infections a year in the United
States, higher than the number of automobile and homicide deaths combined.
So where in Hades did this devilishly clever DNA come from? The ultimate
source may lie in the dirt beneath our feet.
Wright suspects that the antibiotic-drenched environment of commercial
livestock operations is prime ground for such transfer. "You've got the
genes encoding for resistance in the soil beneath these operations," he
says, "and we know that the majority of the antibiotics animals consume get
excreted intact." In other words, the antibiotics fuel the rise of resistant
bacteria both in the animals' guts and in the dirt beneath their hooves,
with ample opportunity for cross-contamination.
====================
Ted Schettler
Science and Environmental Health Network
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