A NEW STORY IN THE GUARDIAN.
YEAH, IT'S IN THE
GUARDIAN.
IS REFERRING TO SOME ACTION THAT IS GOING TO BE TAKEN
BY BRITISH OFFICIALS AT THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND
WHICH IS PART OF THE WORLD BANK MEETING IN WASHINGTON DC, WHERE
BRITISH OFFICIALS ARE REALLY PUSHING THIS IDEA THAT BY THE
YEAR 2050, ANTIBACTERIAL AND ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE MAY BE
A GREATER THREAT TO HUMAN LIFE THEN CANCER.
THAT'S A PRETTY
BOLD CLAIM BUT IT IS A CLAIM THAT A LOT OF DATA REALLY BACKS
UP.
I HAVE A QUOTE HERE FROM BRITISH CHANCELLOR GEORGE
OSBORNE.
I THINK THIS IS SOMETHING THAT
THOSE IN THE SCIENTIFIC
COMMUNITY HAVE TALKED ABOUT FOR YEARS.
I HAVE READ PLENTY OF
BOOKS ABOUT IT.
I'VE HEARD A LOT OF ALARMING STATISTICS, AND
TO ME IT IS PRETTY INTERESTING BECAUSE IN BRITAIN, THEY
ARE ACTUALLY DOING MORE ABOUT IT.
THEY ARE ALREADY DOING MORE
ABOUT IT, BUT WE ARE HEARING THEM SPEAKING A LITTLE MORE
LOUDLY ABOUT IT THEN WE HEAR HERE IN THE UNITED STATES THAT
IS IN IT BECAUSE IT IS SO HEAVILY ON ECONOMIC DECISION OR
PROBLEM.
WE TALK ABOUT INCENTIVIZING DRUG COMPANIES TO
MAKE A DIFFERENT KIND OF ANTIBIOTIC, AND THEN IT'S
JUST LIKE, WE NEED TO INCENTIVIZE THEM TO DO THIS.
NO ONE IS GOING TO COME TOGETHER AND ALL TOURISTIC LATE DO THIS.
THAT IS A REAL PROBLEM.
WHEN YOU HAVE A MEDICAL INSTITUTION
THAT IS RELYING ON SUPPLY AND DEMAND, THINGS GET COMPLICATED.
YOU SEE THAT THE DRUGS THAT MOST OF THE R&D GOES INTO ARE THE
MAINTENANCE DRUGS THAT PEOPLE TAKE.
DRUGS THAT THEY HAVE TO
TAKE EVERY DAY OF THEIR LIFE AND SO THEY DIED.
IF YOU HAVE
DIABETES OR HEART DISEASE THERE IS A LOT OF MONEY TO BE MADE IN
THAT THAT AN ANTIBIOTIC, GENERALLY SPEAKING, UTICA FOR
SEVEN DAYS AND YOU NEVER TAKE IT AGAIN.
TO BE SAFE I TAKE ONE EVERY DAY.
NO JOHN.
THAT IS THE WORST JOKE.
IT'S ACTUALLY REALLY FUNNY THAT
IS MORE PROFITABLE TO TAKE LONG-TERM DRUGS.
IT'S
ANTI-HUMAN TO THINK THAT I AM JUST GOING TO PUT THIS PERSON ON
A CRUTCH.
THERE ARE CERTAIN THINGS THAT WE CAN INCENTIVIZE DRUG
COMPANIES TO PUSH THEIR R&D IN ONE DIRECTION THAT WE CAN SET UP
A MASSIVE GOVERNMENT RESEARCH EFFORT.
IF WE CAN BUILD NUCLEAR
WEAPONS WE CAN GET OURSELVES TO THE NEW MOON AND SAID BROTHER
SUTTER SOLAR SYSTEM, WE CAN PROBABLY DO SOMETHING SIMILAR
WITH MICROBES IN THE SAME WAY THAT WE CAN FOR COMING UP WITH
NEW FORMS OF ALTERNATIVE ENERGY AND THAT SORT OF THING.
REGARDLESS OF APPROACH THOUGH, IT NEEDS TO HAPPEN.
WE ALL AGREE THAT THIS NEEDS TO HAPPEN.
IT ACTUALLY SHARES A LOT WITH CLIMATE CHANGE.
IT LOOKS LIKE
BETWEEN 2050 AND 2100 IT'S BASICALLY A RACE TO SEE WHICH IS
GOING TO KILL US, CLIMATE CHANGE OR MICROBES, BUT ALSO THAT EVERY
COUNTRY HAS, OR DOESN'T HAVE ENOUGH OF AN INCENTIVE BUT NEEDS
TO WORK ON THIS.
ANYONE COUNTRY BY ITSELF DOESN'T REALLY MATTER.
BRITAIN CAN FIGHT AGAINST US INTERNALLY, MICROBES CAN COME
FROM OUTSIDE OF BRITAIN AND CAN TRAVEL INTO IT, AND THAT'S
WHY THIS IS TO BE A WORLDWIDE THING THAT
WE ARE DEALING WITH SUCH AGGRESSIVE ANTIBACTERIAL
RESISTANCE AT THIS POINT.
THIS IS SOMETHING THAT I SPEAK FROM
PERSONAL PLACE ABOUT BECAUSE I HAVE HAD METHICILLIN RESISTANCE.
I'VE HAD AN INFECTION THAT PEOPLEREFERRED TO AS THE
SUPERBUG BUT NOW THERE ARE TONS OF THEM THOUGHT IT WAS HORRIBLE.
I WAS ON ANTIBIOTICS FOR THREE MONTHS.
I HAD TO GO THROUGH FOR
COURSES OF FOUR DIFFERENT DRUGS.
THERE'S ALLERGY TO ONE AND THEN
ONE MADE ME REALLY SICK, BUT IT WAS RESISTANT TO THE FIRST DRUG
THAT I TOOK WHICH WAS REALLY SCARY.
NOW WE ARE IN A POSITION
WHERE THERE IS ONLY ONE DRUG LEFT.
DID YOU KNOW THIS ?
THERE'S ONLY ONE DRUG LEFT THAT TREATS GONORRHEA AND A LOT OF
THE STRAINS ARE RESISTANT TO IT.
YOU COULD BE AN UNLUCKY PERSON
THAT GETS GONORRHEA AND THERE'S NO MENACE MEDICINE TO HELP YOU.
CAN YOU IMAGINE ? I SPOKE TO AN AUTHOR AND I ASKED HER WHAT
YOU DO IF YOU GET GONORRHEA AND THEN THE DRUG DOESN'T WORK ?
AND SHE SAID I ASKED THIS RESEARCHER THE SAME QUESTION AND
HIS ANSWER STONE FACED, DON'T GET GONORRHEA.
THAT'S IT.
IS THE ONLY OPTION YOU HAVE DIED HORRIFYING.
ONCE YOU'VE GOT IT, YOU CAN'T JUST WAIT YEARS AND YEARS
AND YEARS FOR SOMEONE TO DECIDE I'M GOING TO ALL TOURISTIC
LATE HELP NOW AND DEVELOP A NEW DRUG.
WE DO HAVE TO PUT THE PRESSURE ON SOME WAY OR ANOTHER.
WHETHER IT'S PUTTING MORE MONEY INTO THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES
OF HEALTH TO WORK ON IT, WHETHER IT'S ACTUALLY INCENTIVIZED
SCENES OR SUBSIDIZING AND ABOUT ASK THE DRUG MANUFACTURERS
BECAUSE WE DO HAVE A SYSTEM IN PLACE THAT WE NEED TO WORK
WITHIN.
THERE ARE PRIVATE DRUG MANUFACTURERS IN THIS COUNTRY
AND THEY ACTUALLY SUPPLY MOST OF THE DRUGS TO THE WORLD THAT
EVEN AFTER OBAMA CARE ?
YEAH.
LOGICALLY, IF ALL OF THESE PEOPLE HAVE ANTIMICROBIAL COOL
RESISTANT INFECTIONS WHEN THAT RESULT IN MORE OF AN INCENTIVE
FROM THE MEDICAL INDUSTRY AT LARGE, BECAUSE WE WOULD
HAVE LONGER ILLNESS, GREATER RISK OF DEATH, MORE EXPENSIVE
CARE DIES THAT IS FEEDING INTO A LARGER PROBLEM ?
I THINK THE ISSUE IS THAT EVEN IF MORE PEOPLE GET THIS
INFECTION, YOU GO TO TAKE THE DRUG, YOU STILL ONLY HAVE TO BUY
ONE COURSE OF THE DRUG AND THAT YOU ARE BETTER.
THAT IS HOW
ANNA BUTTOCKS WORK.
THAT IS THE FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM WITH A
SUPPLY AND DEMAND SITUATION WHEN IT COMES TO MEDICAL CARE.
WHICH IS WHY WE SHOULDN'T HAVE IT INVOLVED IN THAT.
WHEN THERE'S A PROFIT MOTIVE IT'S A BAD SYSTEM.
IN THE RESEARCH THAT WE HAVE, WE SEE THAT A SIGNIFICANT
PORTION OF ALL OF THE AND ABOUT ASK USED IN THE UK ARE NOT
USED BY HUMANS.
THERE USED IN FARMING DIED IN THE US, IT
IS EVEN HIGHER.
IS WAY HIGHER.
THEORETICALLY ASKED
AT 60% IN THE UK.
HAVE THEY GOT IT DOWN TO 40 BY NOW.
I THINK IT WAS HIGHER THAN THE US.
BUT REGARDLESS OF
WHAT PERCENTAGE IT IS, IS A POTENTIAL SOLUTION BEGIN AS
HIM FOR EVERYBODY ?
IT'S 40% IN THE UK WHEN IT WAS PREVIOUSLY 60%.
SO LEGISLATION THAT WAS ENACTED HELP THEM TO LOWER THAT NUMBER.
BUT IMAGINE IF WE DIDN'T NEED TO DOUBLE BALL OF THOSE
ANIMALS BECAUSE WE DIDN'T NEED THOSE ANIMALS BY AND LARGE.
THE MAIN ISSUE HERE ñ IN 1991 IT WAS 90% OF THE
ANTIBIOTICS THAT WE PRODUCED WENT STRAIGHT TO LIVESTOCK.
AND THEN PROBABLY INTO OUR BODIES.
ORANGE OR WATER SUPPLY.
@GETS COMMUNICATED THAT
IN 2011 80% WENT TO LIVE STOP AND 72% OF THE 80% WERE
ANTIBIOTICS THAT ARE ALSO MEDICALLY IMPORTANT TO HUMANS.
THAT'S THE REAL IMPORTANT THING HERE.
THE MORE THAT YOU ARE
FEEDING ANTIBIOTICS TO WILD BACTERIA.
BACTERIA EXIST IN THE
WILD, THIS IS HOW EVOLUTION WORKS.
THERE'S A MUTATION, IT
HAPPENS RANDOMLY, IT IS GOING TO HAPPEN REGARDLESS OF WHAT'S
HAPPENING AROUND IT.
SOME OF THESE BACTERIA WILL HAVE A
MUTATION THAT WILL MAKE THEM RESISTANT TO THE ANTIBIOTIC.
THE MORE YOU PUMP THE POPULACE OF THE FARM ANIMALS FULL OF THIS
ANTIBIOTIC, THE MORE YOU SEE THAT THE ONES THAT ARE RESISTANT
START TO THRIVE.
THEY START TO MODIFY.
THEY START ACTUALLY
HAVE AN EVOLUTIONARY ADVANTAGE THERE.
THAT'S HOW ANTIBIOTIC
RESISTANCE ACTUALLY FLOURISHES.
IT'S NOT JUST BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T
FINISH YOUR SEVEN-DAY COURSE AND YOU ONLY TOOK FIVE ALL OF THAT
CONTRIBUTES.
OVERUSE IS A BIG PROBLEM AND MISUSE.
THE REASON
THAT WE FEED ANTIBIOTICS TO LIVE STOP, IT'S NOT TO KEEP THEM
WELL.
IT'S TO MAKE THEM BIG.
I DIDN'T KNOW THAT.
FROM WHAT THAT I SEE, THEY DO NOT
SEEM WELL.
HE SEEMED VERY UNWELL AND VERY LARGE STOCK
DISCOVERED AT THE TURN-OF-THE-CENTURY WHEN WE
ACTUALLY HAD SOME REALLY BAD THEM IN, THAT THERE WERE A LOT
OF STUDIES THAT WENT INTO PLAY THIS SAID HOW CAN WE CONTINUE TO
FEED PEOPLE WHEN WE HAVE LIMITED SUPPLIES OF FEED AND WE ARE NOT
GETTING THE RIGHT YIELDS AND PEOPLE ARE STARVING ? STUDIES
ARE DONE IN THE LAB THAT SHOWED IF YOU GAVE ANIMALS THE
ANTIBIOTICS, THEY ACTUALLY GROW FASTER AND NEED LESS FOOD.
SO
WE ENACTED THAT GLOBALLY, AND JUST RAN WITH IT LONG BEFORE WE
EVEN KNEW THE ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE WAS AN ISSUE.
THE
PROBLEM IS AS WE LEARN THESE SCIENTIFIC THINGS AND HEALTH
EFFECTS WE ARE NOT VERY GOOD AT LEGISLATING TO KEEP UP WITH THE
SCIENCE.
NOW WE ARE FACED WITH WHAT WE DO?
HOW DO WE FEED A GROWING POPULATION BUT HOW DO WE ALSO
MAINTAIN A LACK OF ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE ?
SOYLENT.
LAB MEAT.