Pharmaceutical Pollution and Superbugs: A Threat to Humanity, Part 2 of 2

The number of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) “superbugs” has gone from relatively rare to causing thousands of deaths. Superbugs are especially dangerous for children because young people’s natural immune systems are not yet fully developed. Antimicrobial resistant superbugs make it increasingly difficult to control even common infectious diseases. Many medical experts agree that the ever-increasing number of antimicrobial resistant superbugs could create a medical nightmare.

Why are we experiencing this ever-growing problem of antimicrobial resistance? The ever-growing number of antimicrobial resistant bacteria is mainly due to the decades-long practice of feeding antibiotics to animal-people raised in overcrowded, unhygienic factories. When these animal-people are slaughtered, the animal-people meat is often filled with antimicrobial resistant bacteria. “Multi-drug-resistant bacteria can spread from animals to humans through the food chain.”

How concerned should people be about the drug-resistant superbugs found in animal-people meat? Does this occur frequently? A recent study shows that nearly 80% of the meat in US supermarkets contains antibiotic resistant bacteria. It is estimated that up to 75% of new or emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic in origin. In 2019, approximately 100,000 people globally died from MRSA. The World Health Organization (WHO) now considers it to be one of the most severe threats to global health.

What can we do to overcome the growing number of AMR pathogens in animal-folk? Our Most Gracious Supreme Master Ching Hai (vegan) has frequently spoken about the many disastrous consequences of raising animal-people livestock, including infectious diseases. She says that the problem has only one solution: a global shift to the vegan lifestyle. “As long as the animal-people meat industry continues, such viruses will continue to be born. After this one, we will have the next and the next and the next and the next, and one of them will be even worse than we can imagine now, and more deadly, as the experts have warned us long ago. The animal-people livestock industry must be closed. And to do that, we must be vegan. […]”