Controlling Nature 5Another ominous threat is called CRE, a group of some seventy bac-
teria, including toxic strains of E. coli, that can reside in the digestive
systems of meat animals. With mortality rates of up to 5 percent, they
are resistant to nearly all antibiotics. Called “nightmare bacteria,” they
pass along their resistance to other bacteria.
Overall, at least two million people per year become infected with
bacteria resistant to antibiotics; some 23, die as a result. Neither
statistic accounts for those who die from other conditions complicated
by antibiotic-resistant infections. Bacteria have developed resistance to
every antibiotic ever created. Still, sales of antibiotics worldwide con-
tinue to shoot up. In the next two decades, annual usage is forecast to
grow from 63, tons to 6, tons.
Four decades after FDA failed to regulate antibiotic use in agri-
culture, the agency was back with a new tack—a voluntary approach
with nonbinding recommendations. Part of their pitch to the animal
industry was to emphasize principles like only using drugs “considered
necessary for assuring animal health.” The initial good news is year-
over-year sales in 2 6 were down percent for the first time since 2 .
The not-so-good news: antibiotic consumption rates in the United
States are five times higher than in the United Kingdom.
Antibiotics are not the only human invention spawning resistance. We
face a similar problem with synthetic chemicals, introduced into the
modern food system a century ago. Before then, farmers used substances
like nicotine sulfate (from tobacco plants) and lead arsenates (poison-
ous salt compounds) to kill off weeds and insects. They also rotated
crops, pulled weeds, and resigned themselves to losing a portion of each
year’s harvest. After all, competing with other species over food is part
of nature.
But synthetic pesticides promised to be a virtual fence that would
kept out unwanted riffraff. Exterminating competitors meant higher
yields and less need to rotate crops. Pesticides allowed farmers to do less
and keep more.
Most pesticides are the by-product of research into chemical war-
fare. After World War II ended, Congress passed legislation governing