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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>At least one of them is probably nano-silver particles, a
potential health hazard on their own.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><b><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>
pharmwaste-bounces@lists.dep.state.fl.us
[mailto:pharmwaste-bounces@lists.dep.state.fl.us] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Matthew
Mccarron<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, September 16, 2009 8:29 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> Deborah DeBiasi; pharmwaste@lists.dep.state.fl.us<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Pharmwaste] Just Say No to Antibacterial Burgers<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'>There is also a
growing trend in the garment industry to add antibacterial to clothes, mostly
socks, gloves, undergarments, those Holiday gift slippers and even
children nightwear (along with flame retardants). I'm not sure what
chemical they use or how many cleanings it can take before the effect wears off
and down the drain.<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'>Matt McCarron<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'>Pollution
Prevention/Green Business<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'>CA Dept. of Toxic
Substances Control<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'>700 Heinz Ave.
Suite 300 MS R2 - 2-3<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'>Berkeley, CA 94710<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'>510-540-3828<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'>Prepare for the flu
season: stay active, keep home and office areas clean, wash your hands often or
use an alcohol based cleaner (not anti-bacterial) and drink lots of hot
tea.<o:p></o:p></p>
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<br>
>>> "DeBiasi,Deborah"
<Deborah.DeBiasi@deq.virginia.gov> 9/16/2009 6:22 AM >>><br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp</a>-dyn/content/article/2009/09/15/AR200909<br>
1500736.html<br>
<br>
Just Say No to Antibacterial Burgers<br>
<br>
By Ezra Klein<br>
<br>
Wednesday, September 16, 2009 <br>
<br>
When I was a kid, my mother was a bit obsessive about making sure I<br>
finished my antibiotics. Even if I was feeling better. That didn't make<br>
a lot of sense to me. You take medicine until you're not sick anymore.<br>
But when I got a bit older, she explained: If you don't kill off the<br>
bacteria, you could be left with only the strongest bits, which then<br>
multiply and mount a counterattack. That made sense. I'd watched enough<br>
slasher flicks to know that you don't turn your back just because the<br>
killer is down. You make sure he's dead. <br>
<br>
But leaving a capsule of Zithromax behind, it seems, was the least of my<br>
problems. This column is based on a single and quite extraordinary<br>
statistic: Food animal production accounts for 70 percent -- 70 percent!<br>
-- of the antibiotics used in the United States. That doesn't even<br>
include the antibiotics used for animals that actually get sick. That<br>
figure is for "non-therapeutic use" such as growth promotion and
disease<br>
prevention.<br>
<br>
The heavy reliance on routine antibiotic use is a byproduct of the way<br>
we raise animals for food: packed into dim and dirty enclosures where<br>
they live amid their own filth, eat food that they haven't evolved to<br>
digest, and are pretty much stacked atop one another. Most human beings<br>
I know can hardly spend three hours on a plane without contracting a<br>
case of the sniffles. <br>
<br>
When you give antibiotics to animals meant to become food, however,<br>
you're ensuring that antibiotics end up in the food in low but constant<br>
doses. That means bacteria are getting more accustomed to the<br>
antibiotics. There's good reason to think that this background exposure<br>
to antibiotics is contributing to the startling rise in<br>
antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Everything from staph to strep to<br>
salmonella is exhibiting uncommon resilience in the face of our latest<br>
drugs. A 2003 World Health Organization study<br>
(http://www.who.int/foodsafety/publications/micro/en/exec_sum.pdf) put<br>
it pretty starkly: "There is clear evidence of the human health<br>
consequences [from agricultural use of antibiotics, including]<br>
infections that would not have otherwise occurred, increased frequency<br>
of treatment failures (in some cases death) and increased severity of<br>
infections." Even stronger was the title of a 2001 New England Journal<br>
of Medicine editorial: "Antimicrobial Use in Animal Feed -- Time to<br>
Stop." <br>
<br>
Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) is a former microbiologist who has a<br>
master's degree in public health. She also happens to chair the powerful<br>
House Committee on Rules. "This is terribly important," she says.
"If<br>
people don't believe in evolution, they should look at staphylococcus.<br>
Your body used to be able to take care of it. But now it can kill you.<br>
It's evolved." Her answer is H.R. 1549<br>
(http://www.rules.house.gov/bills_details.aspx?NewsID=4354): the<br>
Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act of 2009. The<br>
legislation's approach is very simple, Slaughter says: "The bill<br>
preserves the seven most effective classes of antibiotics for human use<br>
only. They can be used to treat sick animals, but they can't be used to<br>
simply raise animals."<br>
<br>
The industry's objection to this is that it will make meat -- delicious,<br>
delicious meat -- unaffordable for the average consumer. When I pose<br>
this to Slaughter, she laughs mirthlessly. "That really is a strange<br>
defense," she says. "We keep animals in such deplorable conditions
that<br>
they'll become sick as a dog if we don't dose them?" <br>
<br>
There's also the argument that the pennies we're saving on each burger<br>
are being spent in our hospitals. A 2005 study out of Tufts University<br>
estimated that antibiotic-resistant infections add $50 billion to the<br>
annual cost of American health care. On the other side of the coin, a<br>
National Academy of Sciences study found that eliminating<br>
non-therapeutic antibiotics from animals would cost only about $5 to $10<br>
per person per year. I'd pay that for a lower risk of<br>
super-staphylococcus.<br>
<br>
There's also a trade angle to the issue: In 1986, Sweden banned the use<br>
of non-therapeutic antibiotics in their meat. In 1998, Denmark, the<br>
largest swine-producing nation in Europe, did the same. In 2006, the<br>
whole European Union outlawed growth-promoting antibiotics in its meat,<br>
and it's likely that other countries will follow suit. That could begin<br>
shutting down foreign markets for our livestock exports, or at least<br>
embroil us in nasty trade wars. And for what? A practice that's making<br>
us sicker, that obscures the horrible way we raise our animals and that<br>
even my mother would have warned against 20 years ago? <br>
<br>
<br>
Ezra Klein can be reached at kleine@washpost.com or through his blog at<br>
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ezraklein.">http://www.washingtonpost.com/ezraklein.</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Deborah L. DeBiasi <br>
Email: Deborah.DeBiasi@deq.virginia.gov (NEW!)<br>
WEB site address: www.deq.virginia.gov <br>
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality <br>
Office of Water Permit Programs <br>
Industrial Pretreatment/Toxics Management Program <br>
PPCPs, EDCs, and Microconstituents <br>
Mail: P.O. Box 1105,
Richmond, VA 23218 (NEW!) <br>
Location: 629 E. Main Street, Richmond, VA 23219 <br>
PH: 804-698-4028 <br>
FAX: 804-698-4032 <br>
<br>
<br>
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