Quote:
Originally Posted by heero_yuy
A bit verbose but makes the point. We've let big industry destroy the promise of antibiotics for profit and now we reap the reward.  |
As far as reaping the rewards, we haven't seen anything yet. We're still living in the golden age of antibiotics. The next 50 years or so is when we'll begin to count the true costs of allowing our future to be decided by those interested only in lining their own pockets.
I posted the previous long post because this topic is one of the most misunderstood topics in human history.
How many times have you heard someone say "Just think of the millions of lives saved by penicillin."?
Well, there are now over 6 billion people alive today.
Had penicillin NOT been discovered until now, then yes millions would have died since the 1940's. But, it's looking increasingly that
billions of lives would be saved in the next generations ahead of us...so arguably the discovery of penicillin and its carefree application wasn't such a blessing after all.
---------- Post added at 21:27 ---------- Previous post was at 21:12 ----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by Taf
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21178718
It's been waiting in the wings, often hospital wings, and now it's about ready to come out to play.
And how many millions will die? It could trigger war or major conflicts.
Not that that would be a bad thing overall.
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Everything mentioned in that article has been known about for a very long time. Back in early 1997, I saw a documentary that talked all about antibiotic resistance, and that emergency action needed to be taken immediately, which never happened. The WHO puts out warnings about this threat ever few years, I know because I've read them (bear in mind they don't want to panic people). It seems the only "drastic" action being taken is to report on this problem as if its a new problem only just realised...