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

Author
Kirchhelle, Claas, 1987-
Published
New Brunswick : Rutgers University Press, 2020.
Physical Description
1 electronic resource (451 pages).
Additional Creators
Apple, Rina D., Apple, Rina D., Golden, Janet, and Golden, Janet
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Language Note
English
Restrictions on Access
Open Access Unrestricted online access
Summary
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.
Subject(s)
Other Subject(s)
ISBN
9780813591483
Collection
OAPEN Library.
Funding Information
Wellcome Trust
Terms of Use and Reproduction
Creative Commons http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Creative Commons
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