McD’s good start

Pretty good news here, McDonalds is phasing out antibiotic-fed animals. Partially and loosely. But still, this is a good thing. They’re working with their suppliers to phase out some percentage of antibiotic-fed animals by the end of 2004. Livestock is fed antibiotics in their diets to enhance meat production. The problems that can arise from this are many. The most significant in my opinion is the Darwinian immunity we are encouraging through this practice. The antibiotics are not administered medically, there is no therapeutic concern, but strains of bacteria will be partially killed off, primarily the weak, leaving those with immunities to the antibiotic to produce stronger strains. Bacteria generally populate exponentially to fill their niche, so there’s little benefit in a factory-farm environment to reducing their numbers, they’ll just replenish themselves. So we end up with stronger bacteria, some of which are pathogens, and unkillable strains.