A researcher proposed fees on non-human antibiotic use in the agriculture and aquaculture in order to combat what has been called a "public health crisis."
Researcher Aidan Hollis along with co-author Ziana Ahmed voiced the idea, a University of Calgary news release reported.
About 80 percent of U.S. antibiotic use is in the agriculture and aquaculture industries for the sole purpose of increasing food supply.
This overuse of antibiotics is causing bacteria to mutate and become resistant to modern treatments.
"Modern medicine relies on antibiotics to kill off bacterial infections," Hollis said in the news release. "This is incredibly important. Without effective antibiotics, any surgery - even minor ones - will become extremely risky. Cancer therapies, similarly, are dependent on the availability of effective antimicrobials. Ordinary infections will kill otherwise healthy people."
Hollis proposed a tax on antibiotic use similar to the "stump tax" imposed on logging companies.
The researchers fear that antibiotic-resistant bacteria will spread quickly, and could result in a "global health crisis."
"It's not just the food we eat," Hollis said. "Bacteria is spread in the environment; it might wind up on a doorknob. You walk away with the bacteria on you and you share it with the next person you come into contact with. If you become infected with resistant bacteria, antibiotics won't provide any relief."
Hollis said antibiotic use in food industries is of "low value."
"It's about increasing the efficiency of food so you can reduce the amount of grain you feed the cattle," Hollis said. "It's about giving antibiotics to baby chicks because it reduces the likelihood that they're going to get sick when you cram them together in unsanitary conditions.
Banning the practice altogether would be difficult, but Hollis believes a fee would make a big difference.
"These methods are obviously profitable to the farmers, but that doesn't mean it's generating a huge benefit. In fact, the profitability is usually quite marginal," he said. "The real value of antibiotics is saving people from dying. Everything else is trivial."
Hollis also suggested an international treaty could also help improve the problem.
