1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910377813703321

Autore

Kirchhelle Claas <1987->

Titolo

Pyrrhic Progress : The History of Antibiotics in Anglo-American Food Production / / Claas Kirchhelle

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New Brunswick : , : Rutgers University Press, , [2020]

©[2020]

ISBN

0-8135-9150-3

0-8135-9151-1

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (451)

Collana

Critical issues in health and medicine

Disciplina

615.7/922

Soggetti

Agriculture - History

Drug legalization - history

Food - Safety measures

Drug resistance in microorganisms - Genetic aspects

Anti-Bacterial Agents - history

United States

United Kingdom

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

The sound of coughing pigs -- Picking one's poisons : antibiotics and the public -- Chemical cornucopia : antibiotics on the farm -- Toxic priorities : antibiotics and the FDA -- A fusion of concerns : antibiotics and the British public -- Bigger, better, faster : antibiotics and British farming -- Typing resistance : antibiotic regulation in Britain -- The public : antibiotics, failed bans, and growing fears -- The agricultural community : hostility in sinking numbers -- The government : failing to regulate -- Yearning for purity -- British farming and the environmental turn -- Swann song : British antibiotic policy after 1969.

Sommario/riassunto

Pyrrhic Progress analyses over half a century of antibiotic use, regulation, and resistance in US and British food production. Mass-introduced after 1945, antibiotics helped revolutionize post-war agriculture. Food producers used antibiotics to prevent and treat disease, protect plants, preserve food, and promote animals' growth.



Many soon became dependent on routine antibiotic use to sustain and increase production. The resulting growth of antibiotic infrastructures came at a price. Critics blamed antibiotics for leaving dangerous residues in food, enabling bad animal welfare, and selecting for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in bacteria, which could no longer be treated with antibiotics. Pyrrhic Progress reconstructs the complicated negotiations that accompanied this process of risk prioritization between consumers, farmers, and regulators on both sides of the Atlantic. Unsurprisingly, solutions differed: while Europeans implemented precautionary antibiotic restrictions to curb AMR, consumer concerns and cost-benefit assessments made US regulators focus on curbing drug residues in food. The result was a growing divergence of antibiotic stewardship and a rise of AMR. Kirchhelle's comprehensive analysis of evolving non-human antibiotic use and the historical complexities of antibiotic stewardship provides important insights for current debates on the global burden of AMR.