So to begin, I am going to brief you on the history of antibiotics. As you know, bacteria

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1 Today, I am going to talk about the relationship between antibiotics and the agribusiness industry by explaining the history of antibiotics, the role of antibiotics in factory farms, and how it affects human health. So to begin, I am going to brief you on the history of antibiotics. As you know, bacteria are the oldest lifeform on earth, but they were not observed until 1676 by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek when he created his own microscope to study them. He discovered that bacteria come in three types: coccus, or round, bacillus, or rod shaped, and spirochete, or spiral/twisted. He also determined that bacteria could be classified as Gram positive and Gram negative. Gram positive refers to a thick peptidoglycan layer (cell wall), and Gram negative refers to a thin layer. These cell wall structures just mean that the bacteria classes respond differently to antibiotics. The term antibiotic came from a couple Greek words meaning against life, and if you want to know how much bacteria is on your body, you just divide your body weight by 20. Before antibiotics were created, there were some alternative cures to dealing with illnesses including eating certain foods, using mandrake root, and even using natural resources. However, the advancement of antibiotics had occurred for many years before antibiotics were officially created. As I said before, Leeuwenhoek was the first to discover bacteria, then in 1845, Ignaz Semmelweis was able to reduce child-birth related infections from 30% to less than 1% through the use of chlorinated lime as hand wash, which limited the bacteria during childbirth. Twelve years later, Louis Pasteur figured out that bacteria cause diseases, and in 1865, Joseph Lister discovered antiseptics. In 1876, Robert Koch discovered Tuberculosis and human anthrax. Furthermore, Paul Ehrlich developed a Syhilis treatment using arsenic and named it Salvarsan in 1909, and Alexander Fleming constructed Penicillin in Fleming found this out accidently through the mistake of leaving a petri dish uncovered near a window where he noted that the

2 mold that grew killed the bacteria in the dish. Prontosil was created in 1935 by Gerjard Domagk using a red-orange dye, and this was the first commercially available antibiotic. Finally, in 1941, Howard Florey advanced Penicillin to save millions of lives. So now that we have a history of how antibiotics came to be, I would like to continue by explaining how antibiotics work. There are two classes of antibiotics: bacteriostatic and bactericidal. Bacteriosta stop bacteria from multiplying or at least slows down the rate of multiplication, while bacteriocidal kills bacteria completely. There are five ways to disrupt bacteria during multiplication: 1. Interfere with the construction of bacterial cell walls causing the bacteria to burst open and die 2. Disrupt cellular processes to prevent multiplication and allows the immune system to fight it off 3. Weaken the bacteria s ability to take in nutrients or rid toxins causing it to die 4. Prevent DNA replication which prevents multiplication 5. Mimic nutrients needed by bacteria to slow bacterial growth and reproduction There are 3 ways that bacteria can pass on their genes: transformation, conjugation, and transduction. This is true for any DNA replication, but the only way to pass on a defective or resistant gene is through random genetic mutation. Just like in human mutations, bacteria can have a defect in their DNA causing part of the bacteria to be resistant to antibiotics. This resistant gene can be passed by transformation, which is when bacteria pick up strings of DNA that other bacteria leave behind; conjugation, which is where on bacterium transfers plasmids to another bacterium via its pilus; or through transduction, which is where a virus spreads bacteria. Bacteria

3 are just like humans in the sense that they are constantly trying to adapt and survive in changing environments just like we are. Nonetheless, the biggest issue with antibiotics is that resistance is on the rise creating an antibiotic superbug. Doctors realized that resistance was an issue back in the 1940s, but doctors dismissed the issue and proceeded to allow Penicillin to be available without a prescription. In turn, Penicillin became a cure for all illnesses, and by 1946, 14% of specific bacteria strains were resistant. This has been a growing issue especially now that today, 84% of antibiotics are used in the agribusiness industry to promote animal growth and treat animal diseases in the United States. For the visual people out there, I am going to show a video of how antibiotic resistance works. **Show video for recap of antibiotic resistance** Okay, so now that we are aware of the process, it is not time to apply it the agribusiness industry. People typically think of farms as a place where animals roam freely where there may be a tractor in the field, a farmer nearby, a giant red barn in the middle. A place with no suffering, no problems, just happy animals, so companies play off that because they want to meet their consumers expectations. However, reality differs. **Show pictures of expectations/company promotions and reality. The agribusiness industry does not want to tell you the truth because it will hurt their business, but the fact is that factory farms are a farm in which animals are bred and fattened using modern industrial methods. This means that our expectation farms are few and far between because they cannot meet the demand for meat and dairy like these bigger, industrial farms. This leads to issues in animal welfare that affect antibiotic usage.

4 To attempt to limit harm to animals, the government created the Animal Welfare Act in 1966 with five amendments since. This act entitles, 1) to insure that animals intended for use in research facilities or for exhibition purposes or for use as pets are provided humane care and treatment; 2) to assure humane treatment of animals during transportation in commerce; and 3) to protect the owners of animals from theft of their animals by preventing the sale or use of animals which have been stolen, (Shaffner 2011, 72). With that being said, the concept of animal welfare goes hand-in-hand with this act and is defined as, A state of an animal s well-being; maintenance of animals under conditions of space, environment, nutrition, and so forth and consistent with the five freedoms: freedom from 1) thirst, hunger, and malnutrition 2) discomfort 3) pain, injury, and disease 4) fear and distress 5) expression of normal behavior, (Schaffner 2011, 73). Knowledge of animal well-being is important because the Animal Welfare Act does not protect all animals nor do animals always get the coverage it ensures. Farm animals are excluded from the Animal Welfare Act, but they have their own Humane Slaughter Act which states, Cattle, calves, horses, mules, sheep, swine, and other livestock, all animals are rendered insensible to pain by a single blow or gunshot or electrical, chemical, or other means that is rapid and effective before being shackled, hoisted, thrown, cast, or cut (Welty 2007, 183). The problem with this is that farm animals are not guaranteed the same protection as animals under the Animal Welfare Act regardless of the fact they are animals too. Nonetheless, animals within the agriculture industry are still mistreated, and many people are unaware of the reality. *Show pictures of farming conditions We all have Thomas Jukes to thank for this issue today. Jukes was the first one to suggest using antibiotics in animal feed in He originally was looking for a way to increase the

5 vitamin B-12 intake in animals and created a feed for animals to do just that, and as a side effect, the feed promoted faster animal growth. So what can you do to limit the problem? There are a variety of ways to help yourself slow down the antibiotic superbug. These include talking with a healthcare professional, using antibiotics only when absolutely necessary, taking all of your antibiotics to ensure the infection is killed off, and not sharing your antibiotics with anyone. Another way is to limit your meat intake or only eat meats that are not grown with antibiotics. I recommend buying local, grass-fed meat because grass-fed meats are typically antibiotic free because local farmers are more interested in the health of the animal. To wrap up, I would like to ask you all a few questions to see what your opinions on the subject are. Should it be a requirement to only use antibiotics in livestock when an animal is sick? Should we regulate antibiotic use in the agriculture industry at all? Is it ethical to use antibiotics as a growth hormone since we know the effects Do you think there is a link between antibiotic resistance in humans and animal livestock? Do you think it is possible to create a sustainable food source without factory farms? Does it really matter what condition the agribusiness animals live in or will the industry use antibiotics as a growth promoter regardless (if there aren t any regulations)? What is more important: the condition of the animals or meeting the meat demand?

Biology, Medicine, and Public Health Professor Cleaveland Lauren Dunn

Biology, Medicine, and Public Health Professor Cleaveland Lauren Dunn History Relationship Human Health 1676: Antoni van Leeuwenhoek- observed/described bacteria 3 shapes: coccus, bacillus, spirochete/spirillum