Should We Give Antibiotics to Cattle?

Gene Expression is concerned that the U.S. government is probably going to approve use of a new antibiotic for use in cattle.

He writes "It's obvious that wide-scale use of a new antibiotic will ramp up the frequency of resistant bacteria; these are basic evolutionary principles at work."

There are negative externalities to cattle owner's use of antibiotics because the more times antibiotics are used, the more likely bacteria are to develop resistance. And some of these antibiotic-resistant bacteria could infect humans. Thus, after an antibiotic has been developed, human health is endangered by allowing use of the antibiotic in humans.

But if pharmaceutical companies believe that they will be able to sell their antibiotics to cattle owners, they are more likely to develop new antibiotics. The greater the potential market for a new drug, the more money pharmaceutical companies will spend researching the drug. Thus, over the long run humans might have more effective antibiotics if pharmaceutical companies can sell antibiotics for use in cattle.