Alternative to Antibiotics

The University of Bern is teaming up with an organic farm in Sorens, Switzerland to try alternatives to painkillers when rearing milk producing cows. 

The Canton of Fribourg where Sorens sits, announced through its official Agriculture office that they would allow acupuncture to be tried as an alternative to normal pain medication.

They would designate 80 cows to be used in the experiment.

What is the goal of the experiment?

The organic farm is attached to a Grangeneuve, a farm affiliated to the University of Bern which has dedicated itself to the research in alternatives to antibiotics and painkillers.

The goal of the experiment itself is to replace medication with natural methods. This must be done while still making sure the cow is in no pain whatsoever. It will be one of the first instances of acupuncture use on farm animals in Europe. 

Antibiotics and their misuse could have terrible impacts on human consumers, as they could develop antimicrobial immunities. Recent surveys from the USA’s Food and Drug administration from last year showed severe spikes in antibiotic and painkiller use. In some cases, the dose would be five times higher than the usual dosage.

How effective will this be?

Depending on how the students are taught by the Australian expert, it remains to be seen how much an alternate acupuncture would be.

Acupuncture itself doesn’t seem likely to be a permanent cure to the use of painkillers. However it could point to a new trend in the bovine rearing industry. Methods that lack strong medication could lead to resistance forming futures.

The cattle industry must focus on the future where production would not mean constant impregnation with the use of antibiotics.

They must look for healthier organic alternatives and seek to secure the best possible health for the cattle.

Assessment

Antibiotics have been used since the 1940s and have led to a dramatic reduction in illness and death from infectious diseases.

But studies conducted by various research have concluded that the threat to public health from the overuse of antibiotics in food animals is real and growing. Humans are at risk both due to potential

presence of superbugs in meat and poultry, and to the general migration of superbugs into the environment, where they can transmit their genetic immunity to antibiotics to other bacteria, including bacteria that make people sick.