Josiah Nelson's reading response to The Antibiotic Paradox chapter 6, Antibiotics, Animals, and the Resistance Gene Pool

I grew up in a rural community and my brother is a rancher so I already had some knowledge of antibiotic use in the cattle industry. I was surprised, however, to learn that some antibiotics have been used as growth promoters. I had heard of different growth enhancing treatments but I was unaware of the use of antibiotics for that purpose. I was also very surprised to find out that this practice has not been banned in the United States despite its potential risks. I always thought that with issues as serious as this the U.S. would always follow suite with Europe and Canada.

Another subject in chapter six that I found very interesting was just how easily and quickly antibiotic resistance can spread between different species of animals and humans just by mere proximity. This is yet another great example of just how potentially dangerous antibiotic misuse can be.