Fish farming-Another case of antibiotic misuse

Development of antibiotic resistance in human beings is becoming an increasing concern world over though it is more acute as being reported, in Western countries where antibiotic tweaked feed is routinely fed to poultry birds and live stock animals. This practice became widespread when the animal food industry realized that such feeds can add significant weights to their birds and animals. Antibiotic resistance is supposed to be developed when popular antibiotics used in human beings are preferred choice of the animal food industry. Many countries are taking appropriate action in restraining the industry from using these antibiotics to prevent serious disease causing pathogens becoming super bugs able to with stand the "kill effect" of such antibiotics. However another instance of serious misuse of antibiotics is reported to be emerging among fish breeders in some countries which has been overlooked earlier, adding new dimension to the problem. Here is a take on this alarming development.  

The concern surrounding animal antibiotics focuses on meat and poultry production, but a new study suggests we should also be paying attention to fish. Researchers at Arizona State University investigated 47 antibiotics in U.S.- purchased shrimp, salmon, catfish, trout, tilapia and swai originating from 11 different countries. Their findings, published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials, identified five antibiotics detected in shrimp, salmon, tilapia and trout. Oxytetracycline was the most commonly detected antibiotic compound, and it was found in farmed fish and wild shrimp. The researchers also found 4-epioxytetracycline, sulfadimethoxine, and ormetoprim in certain species and virginiamycin in farmed salmon marketed as antibiotic-free. Lead author Hansa Done, a Ph.D. candidate at ASU's Center for Environmental Security, told Time.com that antibiotics are added to the water in fish farms to treat and prevent disease or are directly injected into fish, but that they are not used for growth promotion. The antibiotic levels detected in the study were within legal limits, and the researchers report low risk of drug exposure from seafood consumption, but even the low levels can promote antibiotic resistance. The authors add that publications reporting antibiotic resistance in aquaculture have increased eight-fold over three decades.

It is sad that meat and fish food industries are indulging in such malpractices without caring for the well being of the consumers who after all provide them with their "bread and butter". Of course fish breeders may argue that they are using these antibiotics to make their products safer to the consumers. However this industry is forgetting that residues of antibiotics present in fish so raised can get into human system, slowly creating resistance in many microbes many of them virulent ones capable of inflicting severe health disorders. Similarly the antibiotic containing water where fish is raised is a potential contaminating source for the soil and water around. As most fish in the US market originate from countries like India, Thailand, China, Vietnam etc the implications are clear. Whether antibiotic use is practiced in the US also is not known though one can assume, knowing the attitude of food industry in general there, that US farmers also must be resorting to this practice. It is time suitable international protocols are arrived at for guiding the fish farmers and aqua culture industry for not using antibiotics which are commonly prescribed for treating diseases among human beings.  

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

ENDOCRINE DISRUPTORS- NEW ALARMS BEING RAISED

A report some time back implicated uncontrolled pollution of Thames River in the UK with birth control pills, for the fish to change their sex with females predominating over males! It is known that estrogens present in water can be endocrine disruptors causing fertility problems and other adverse health effects. While well protected water supply systems are supposed to be free from such contaminants, most of the population exposed to untreated or semi-processed water are in danger of consuming significant levels of estrogens and other endocrine disruptor that can have undesirable health implications. Recent studies, though some what limited in its scope, have highlighted this problem more succinctly. It is scary to imagine that improper sewage treatment and stable nature of the estrogen contaminant can affect the fertility in human beings. This is especially true in many developing countries where open defecation is so common and natural streams and rivers are exposed to contamination from human waste. Unfortunately no worth while study has been carried out in this area so far in these countries.

"Amber Wise, Kacie O'Brien and Tracey Woodruff note ongoing concern about possible links between chronic exposure to estrogens in the water supply and fertility problems and other adverse human health effects. Almost 12 million women of reproductive age in the United States take the pill, and their urine contains the hormone. Hence, the belief that oral contraceptives are the major source of estrogen in lakes, rivers, and streams. Knowing that sewage treatment plants remove virtually all of the main estrogen -- 17 alpha-ethinylestradiol (EE2) -- in oral contraceptives, the scientists decided to pin down the main sources of estrogens in water supplies. Their analysis found that EE2 has a lower predicted concentration in U.S. drinking water than natural estrogens from soy and dairy products and animal waste used untreated as a farm fertilizer. And that all humans, (men, women and children, and especially pregnant women) excrete hormones in their urine, not just women taking the pill. Some research cited in the report suggests that animal manure accounts for 90 percent of estrogens in the environment. Other research estimates that if just 1 percent of the estrogens in livestock waste reached waterways, it would comprise 15 percent of the estrogens in the world's water supply".

it is time that a concerted effort is made to assess the situation vis-à-vis the extent of presence of estrogens in public water bodies in countries like India. Naturally one assumes that exposure to natural elements and action of soil organisms would have broken down these harmful substances before reaching the water bodies. In a lighter vein one may ask why the fertility rate is so high in most developing countries if the water consumed by the population has high levels of anti-fertility estrogens originating from human and animal wastes? Similary has any one estimated the presence of estrogen like substances in organically grown produce materials as natural fertilizers are used for raising the crops? Probably these issues need some clarification through further scientific efforts.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com