Topic Proposal Statement

Antibiotic Resistance caused By Factory Farming as a Public Health Issue

Would Approaching Antibiotic Resistance caused By Factory Farming as a Public Health Issue Decrease the Rates of Infectious Diseases for Americans?

From a future nurse perspective

Kadeane Alder Moo Young

27.01.2021

West Coast University.

Topic Description.

Factory farming is often referred to as the industrial livestock production or also the intensive animal farming. It can also be defined as raising farm animals in a way to maximize the profits. Factory farming mainly focuses on the profits the animal will generate and little emphasis is placed on how the animals are reared. Factory farming leads to the utilization of a variety of antibiotic drugs, which are used with the intent of maximizing the economic productivity of the animals. Antibiotics are defines as the naturally –occurring or synthetic compounds and are utilized to speed up the growth of the farm animals as well as to prevent the spread of the bacterial infections. The antibiotics used in factory farming are often and frequently administered to healthy animals. The excessive use and the subsequent abuse of the antibiotic drugs by factory farms has been termed as a major contributing factor to the rapid global growth and the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) CITATION Dev20 l 1033 (Nair, 2020). AMR is defined as the resistance of disease causing microorganisms to the treatment by any common medication, antimicrobial resistance is often used to refer specifically to the resistance of infectious bacteria to treatment by antibiotic medicines. CITATION Dev20 l 1033 (Nair, 2020). The World Health Organization have come on board to state that factory farms should stop administering antibiotic drugs to healthy animals as the practice is giving rise to superbugs.

Problem Statement.

The excessive use and misuse of antibiotics in the meat industry has been seen as the main contributing factor to the rise of antibiotic resistance in the U.S and across the world. Antibiotic resistance emanating from factory farming is a serious public health issue as it is responsible for, and estimated to kill 10million people worldwide by the year 2050. CITATION Fer141 l 1033 (Walsh, 2014). Over two million cases of illness and 23,000 deaths recorded annually in the United States is recorded to have been caused by the antibiotic resistant infections.CITATION Sab l 1033 (Tavernise, 2013). The mortality and morbidity of the antibiotic resistance is estimated to cost the society $5billion to $70billion each year. CITATION Mar13 l 1033 (Mckenna, 2013). Antibiotic resistance is stated to occur when the antibiotic loses its ability to effectively control or kill bacterial growth and multiplication. The resistant microbes therefore require other medications and in most instances higher doses which is associated with undesirable side effects. Antibiotic resistance can therefore be seen as a looming public health crisis, which needs to be addressed with every means possible before its dangerous effects affect the entire country.

Purpose of the topic.

A public health issue is a health problem that is seen to affect a significant portion of a specific population. There is tangible evidence that antibiotic use in food animals have resulted in antibiotic resistance. Antimicrobial resistance is being recognized as a serious global health threat and an issue that requires concerted public health effort to be channeled towards addressing the situation. It can also be compared to other global health challenges such as climate change because it is a shared health problem because it is a condition that cannot be contained and it does not respect national borders. The purpose of this paper is to present evidence that factory farming is leading to antimicrobial resistance and that it should be approached from a public health perspective to protect the animals and the health of the population.

References.

BIBLIOGRAPHY l 1033 Mckenna, M. (2013). Catastrophic Threat’: UK Government Calls Antibiotic Resistence a ‘Ticking Time Bomb. WIRED.

Nair, D. P. (2020). The Link Between Antibiotic Resistance and Factory Farming. Sentient Media, 45-67.

Tavernise, S. (2013). Antiibiotic Resistant Infections Lead to 23,000Deaths a Year C. D. C Finds. The New York Times, 16-26.

Walsh, F. (2014). Superbugs to Kill ‘more than cancer by 2050. BBC News.