World running out of effective antibiotics!

World Heath Organization – A September 2017 report released by WHO shows a serious lack of new antibiotics under development to combat the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance. It seems that most of the drugs currently in the clinical pipeline are modifications of existing classes of antibiotics and are only short-term solutions. The report found very few potential treatment options for those antibiotic-resistant infections identified by WHO as posing the greatest threat to health, including drug-resistant tuberculosis which kills around 250,000 people each year.

"Antimicrobial resistance is a global health emergency that will seriously jeopardize progress in modern medicine," says Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO. "There is an urgent need for more investment in research and development for antibiotic-resistant infections including TB, otherwise we will be forced back to a time when people feared common infections and risked their lives from minor surgery."

The report went on to conclude that there is a serious lack of treatment options for multi-drug and extensively drug-resistant M. tuberculosis and gram-negative pathogens, including Acinetobacter and Enterobacteriaceae (such as Klebsiella and E.coli) which can cause severe and often deadly infections that pose a particular threat in hospitals and nursing homes....

See Antibacterial agents in clinical development.

The Truth About Eggs – What Commercial Egg Farmers Don’t Want You to Know!

Really? We can't do better than this?

A massive scale egg producer in Pennsylvania has made the news for its inhumane treatment of chickens and unsanitary conditions. 

Kreider Farms, which houses seven million hens, appears to be the next sickening example of what allegedly happens behind the scenes at CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations).

The Humane Society recently released an undercover video that exposes the horrific conditions endured by the birds in this operation. (Think Auschwitz on steroids, only for birds, not Jews).

Kreider Farm's owner, Dave Andrews, claims the allegations are false and that three state agencies have given the farm a clean bill of health. He did admit, however, that one of the farm's buildings tested positive for salmonella but has since been cleaned up. (Yeah, that makes me feel better).

Another study found that while more than 23% of farms with caged hens tested positive for salmonella, this dropped to just over 4% for organic, i.e. free-range pastured flocks. The highest prevalence of salmonella occurred in the largest flocks (30,000 birds or more), which contained over four times the average level of salmonella found in smaller flocks. Am I getting through to everyone?

Compared to official U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) nutrient data for commercial eggs, eggs from hens raised on pasture and allowed to freely forage outdoors may contain:

• Two-thirds more vitamin A
• Twice as many omega-3 fats
• Three times as much vitamin E
• Seven times more beta carotene
  

Hmm. Well, here's my point. The question is, what kind of food system do YOU want everyone? Do you really want to put this sort of commercially grown crap in your mouth? If every American decided to not buy commercially produced eggs, things would finally change in a heartbeat. All that's required is for each and every person to change his or her shopping habits whenever it's feasible.

Enough said. I buy farm fresh eggs whenever I can find them. For me, that means visiting John's Frosted Mug in Forsyth Mo., where I live.