Factory farms, antibiotics and superbugs: Lance Price at TEDxManhattan

How messed up is it that endangering human health is okay as long as it's in the name of supplying cheap meat in high abundance, meat that is not even essential for health. And yet people are always complaining that vegans don't care enough about human issues...smh

Very nice talk! What about going 🌱 vegan. Stop animal cruelty, be healthy, and save the planet. 🙏🙏

not to mention there's a tremendous amount of animal cruelty involved in factory farms. the US agricultural business is completely in denial about the horrors of factory farming and it's disgusting how many there are in this country

I wish this was in spanish my family thinks im crazy when I try to explain this issue.

My interest in this topic was spiked after another video I watched and the overuse of antibiotics in food animal production was mentioned. It was always something I knew about but didn’t know a whole lot about. So immediately after hearing several facts I had to know more because of all the questions that started popping into my head! I didn’t quite understand where the drug resistant bacteria started, I learned that it’s truly a matter evolution. Bacteria living inside the animal comes in contact with repetitive doses of antibiotics and eventually several can build a tolerance to the drug and become completely resistant, so that the next time a dose in ingested it kills off the susceptible bacteria and the immune bacteria remain living and begin to reproduce inside the animal eventually causing it to carry a fully antibiotic resistant infection. I thought it was crazy that human medical care used 7.7 million pounds of antibiotics per year. But then I learned that 30 million pounds of antibiotics are used per year, this is where my questions about the purpose of antibiotics for the animals started getting answered. 20% of them actually go to treating the sick animals, the other 80% is really just used for production tools. Production tools can be things like ingredients that encourage faster growth, prevent future diseases, and to treat diseases that occur because of the way WE treat the animals. These are also called ‘Production Diseases’, infections to the animals based on the living conditions and are only treated by administering only another dose of antibiotics. I appreciated a term that Lance Price used to describe these production sites known as “Factory Farms”, I think this is a very accurate name for an establishment that focuses on the quantity of their production rather than the quality. Continuously pumping antibiotics as a clock based treatment to prevent any possible disease that could affect the greater population of their herd. These low and continuous doses of the drugs are what cause the drug resistant bacteria. Price used the definition of antibiotics being known as ‘societal drugs’, the meaning of this is through a overuse of antibiotics a sense of immunity by bacteria is gained and begins to cause infections in humans and can cause a large spread throughout society. This then prevents everyone from being treated with the same antibiotic. This is the same process that happens through the use of these drugs in food animal production. This outcome is something I find disgustingly comical. These industries are knowingly using ‘sub therapeutic’ antibiotics to ‘better’ the health of their animals, these animals then develop a drug resilient bacteria. Due to the fact that they are given the drug doses practically on clockwork, the bacteria remains very much alive. Once the animal is processed, the large quantities of infected meat are shipped to super markets across the country. Only to be then to be purchased and put a great number of our society’s population at risk of infection. Once the infection affects a large number of people that can’t be treated by antibiotics it is transmitted rapidly until a cure can be found. Once heat of the incident blows back on the production company they blame the people for not properly taking care of their meat or by not cooking it thorough enough to kill the harmful bacteria that THEY created. I greatly appreciated the optimism of Lance Price, he not only gave a great deal of helpful information about this subject he showed us how we prevent this crisis from ruining future generations of possible healthcare. Another question that popped into my head during this video was how do we start the process of ending these super bugs? I learned shortly that it has to begin with the conservation of antibiotics in both hospitals and food animal production. The true problem regarding healthcare here is the affect it has significantly on humans. One way we can begin to conserve the use of these special drugs is only administering them to sick people and sick animals. The next step is to change the system we have to reduce the risk of both people and animals contracting harmful bacteria. By increasing hygiene standards in homes, hospitals, and in the food production system. Eventually down the road, efforts to remove the use of antibiotics from food animal production in unnecessary cases would help terminate the number and chances of drug resistant bacteria. Many bacteria will revert back to being susceptible to the use of antibiotics, bacteria will still remain in animals and in our foods. If we take the time to prep our food properly we minimize the risk of infection, people can and will still get sick! The difference is that now the use of antibiotics will be affective. The last slice of optimism that Price gave was that there is hope and that it is in motion for a better future. There are more models of successful food animal production systems that are remaining extremely efficient and the need for antibiotics are nonexistent. Also on the rise, the number of traditional/natural forms of raising animals known as “open air” grounds, or local farms. These systems are more enjoyable for the farmer and for the animals as well, with no need of antibiotics and no present diseases. This allows for “the farmers to be farmers, animals to be animals, and lets us save antibiotics for future generations.”

Great presentation. Bravo, well done.

So many issues addressed in one short talk. I shared on my facebook, this is important.

I live in an area where the grow and process a lot of chickens. My husband has worked on the farms, in the processing plats and has hauled the feed to the farms. I have seen the farms ad worked in the processing plants as well. The feed has a lot of deadly stuff in it as well. Arsnic being one of them. Sorry for spelling. We now grow our own chicken and pork and more and even sell the extra for those who can't grow their own. Our health is getting better.

I've studied the soil on sprayed farms in MO and found a layer cake of poisons: antibiotics, chemical fertilizer, herbicide, pesticide. I found no bug life in any of the sprayed farms, not even earth worms.

Very well explained indeed! Love it.

Amazing speech, very informative and educational!!!

I read a story recently in the BBC news about a woman who, playing a lawn game, fell and cut her knee. As a result she lost one hand and the fingers of another hand, and had her legs amputated below the knee. This is the result of sepsis, or bacterial infection, from the cut knee. This is the future we're barreling toward.

this is the best ted talk i've seen so far :D

Recently went 95% vegan and exercising everyday. Best thing I ever did for my health, being more holistic in everything ido has made me feel 21 again and I turn 50 next year!

GOOD JOB LANCE! :)

These corporate farms need to follow Perdue's lead and think about maintaining the overall health of the animals as efficiently as possible instead of operating towards profit margins. Thats the problem with this nation in s nutshell, everything is about money

Consumers can make a difference in their purchasing. Even Walmart now has some "no antibiotic" meats, as well as "cage free" and "pasture raised" and "no growth hormone". There are more "organic" choices too. I'm glad he is discussing the factory farming and how antibiotics are used for profit vs necessity. -- 3 years after this talk and not enough done about this crisis. This needs to be a major emergency for global health. The G20 this year did start to discuss and make some plans. Concentrated animal feeding operation = CAFO

I need to write about this

With billions of animals are pushed through the food system annually, it seems a matter of when, not if, a potentially devastating microbe makes the leap — unless we change our course. It’s time we reevaluate our relationship to animals and realize its connection to our own health

Antibiotics are often fed to factory-farmed animals to offset the disease risks posed by overcrowding – this is carried out regardless of whether the animal is infected or not. In some countries, antibiotics are even used to promote growth