Antibiotic Legislation

In reading a recent article on how politicians are scrutinizing antibiotic use in animal agriculture one statement jumped off the page, “you can hardly find a hand soap that isn’t antibacterial, meaning antibiotics are in its content”. Well, I thought I would check that out, so I did a search for the difference between antibiotic and antibacterial. What I found was that while both attack bacteria, they’re actually two different things. Antibacterials, such as alcohols, peroxides, or chlorine are used to eliminate bacteria on surfaces, while antibiotics are used as medicines for humans or animals and generally come from organic origins. There in lies the rub. Current government has been making “noises” that they intend to introduce legislation that will curtail or ban antibiotic use in animal agriculture. As some livestock and veterinary groups have stated “eliminating antibiotic use in livestock is not only an animal welfare issue but a public health and food safety issue as well”.  This type of legislation would be one more example of how seemingly good intentions could have dire consequences.