Food and abuse of antibiotics
MIAMI - AUGUST 07: Roxana Selagea, a Publix Supermarket pharmacy manager, counts out the correct number of antibiotic pills to fill a prescription August 7, 2007 in Miami, Florida. Publix has decided to start giving away seven commonly prescribed antibiotics for free. The oral antibiotics will be available at no cost to any customers with a prescription as often as they need it. Publix will offer 14-day supplies of the seven drugs at all of the company's pharmacies. The supermarket chain operates 684 pharmacies in five states. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Credit: GETTY IMAGES/Joe Raedle
Germany's frightening E. coli outbreak, in which raw vegetables so far have been prime suspects, may induce some misguided schadenfreude among devotees of bacon cheeseburgers. But it shouldn't make anyone on Long Island stop eating salad -- or cause anyone in Germany to start taking antibiotics.
Dosing human E. coli victims with antibiotics and dosing cattle (pre-hamburger) to prevent illness are two sides of the same coin: overuse of precious lifesaving drugs for no good purpose. That can breed deadly, drug-resistant strains of bugs.
Antibiotics aren't medically indicated for E. coli poisoning and may even make the patient worse by increasing the danger of kidney failure. It's time to stop using these drugs indiscriminately, on farms as well as in hospitals, so fewer resistant strains are produced and the drugs work when someone actually needs them.
Nobody knows the source of the German outbreak, but the worst thing Americans could do would be to give up salad. On the contrary, for the most part our problem is too little salad, not too much. Vegetables are essential for a healthy diet, and their benefits outweigh any small risk associated with eating some of them raw.
Germany appears to have bungled its E. coli investigation, first devastating Spanish agriculture with a mistaken accusation and then blaming some apparently innocent sprouts. Let's hope the Germans find the source soon. Meanwhile, our salad days are far from over.
