Fresh Air: The Overuse Of Antibiotics In Fresh Air

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Recommended: Persuasive essay on overuse of antibiotics

Denise Lagua
Dr. Bauzon
BIO 2025-01
19 May 2014
The Overuse of Antibiotics
In Fresh Air from npr.com, Terry Gross speaks with Dr. Martin Blaser about the use of antibiotics. Our gut microbes are extremely vulnerable to antibiotics. Our microbiome is defined as the collection of microorganisms in our body. Some of the microorganisms are helpful in our bodies. However, there are others that are not helpful, rather they are harmful. Antibiotics are responsible in killing bacteria. Nonetheless, they change the composition of our body. Dr. Blaser lists that food allergies, asthma, celiac disease, intestinal disease, and juvenile diabetes (Type I diabetes) have been happening in the last 50 to 70 years as a result in the change of our microbiome. Throughout the podcast, Dr. Blaser argued that the overuse of antibiotics is damaging the human microbiome.
Dr. Blaser also elucidated how antibiotics contribute to obesity. He used livestock as an example. He described how farmers have been feeding their livestock with antibiotics for almost 70 years. They feed them with antibiotics because ...

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