Agricultural News
Dr. Margaret Riley on the Reality of Antimicrobials- When Antibiotics are Used, Resistance is Being Selected
Mon, 28 Mar 2016 14:02:14 CDT
At the recent Bayer Agvocacy gathering in New Orleans, Radio Oklahoma Network Farm Director Ron Hays caught up with one of the leading experts in the world of antibiotic resistance, Dr. Margaret Riley. After receiving her Ph.D. at Harvard University in 1991, Dr. Riley joined the faculty at Yale University, where she remained for 15 years while developing an internationally renowned research program in antimicrobial drug discovery. Today, she is a Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Massachusetts- Amherst.
In 2009 Dr. Riley co-founded a biopharmaceutical company, Bacteriotix LLC. That same year she co-founded the Institute for Drug Resistance, whose mission is to facilitate novel, multidisciplinary approaches to addressing the challenge of drug resistance. In her presentation at the Bayer Agvocacy Event, she told participants that it is wrong to point fingers at animal agriculture for causing antibiotic resistance without also pointing fingers at the human side of the equation as well.
She explained her logic in making that statement to Hays- and part one of their conversation is featured in today's Beef Buzz.
Dr. Riley says "the reason that antibiotic resistance is increasing is because whenever...whoever uses antibiotics are selecting for resistance. Now the resistance already exists in nature- it's been around for billions of years. As we consume tons of antibiotics in agriculure, in human health, in aquaculture- we are selecting for those resistant strains and they're not going to disappear."
She tells Hays that we have to acknowledge that reality and then "figure out where to go from here."
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network- but is also a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR below for today's show- and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
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