Hundreds of tonnes of an “antibiotic of last resort” – only used in the most extreme cases of sickness – are shipped to India each year to be used, without medical supervision, on animals that may not require the drugs but are being dosed with them nevertheless to promote the growth of healthy animals.
Without these drugs, diseases that were commonly treatable in the last century will become deadly once again (source).
This is a classic case of (game theory) prisoner’s dilemma – in our need to win in the short term, we aren’t cooperating with the nature. We are ‘forcing’ health in animals and in the process, hurting the entire race.
The non-cooperation works in the short term, but hurts everyone in the long run. But then, who cares?
What can be done to prevent this behavior? Is policing the only option?
