MRSA Superbug Research

This week I came across a study by a US researcher who has discovered another strain of MRSA, or an antibiotic-resistant Staph, which has colonized livestock and farm workers on factory farm operations.

One of the saddest documentaries I have ever seen was about factory farming, which is common in the US and Canada. One segment of the documentary focused on the lives of animals living on factory farms, or Confined Area Feed Operations (CAFOs). These facilities put thousands of animals together in a relatively small area. Their movement is restricted by their neighbours. Their food and water are contaminated by their neighbours' urine and feces, and they are repeatedly injected with growth hormones and antibiotics to fight infections. In their confined space, these animals are also exposed to large amounts of pesticide to kill all the carriers of disease.

Maybe a century from now, treating animals this inhumanely will be viewed as animal slavery. I understand the argument that livestock is meant to die for meat one day, but why couldn't their days on this earth be under better conditions.

Yesterday, I thought about how I would explain factory farming to my daughter. I know that she would be absolutely horrified by the living conditions of these animals. And the obvious question she would ask is "why." The answer... money.

Sometimes answering your children's questions makes you re-examine them yourself. We buy free-range meat without antibiotics, and when we can find organic meat we buy it too. But now I'm starting to wonder why we buy meat at all.

More food for thought.