Topic Of The Day:-“Resisting Resistance: On Antibiotic Misuse”
Even as antibiotics lose their efficacy against deadly infectious diseases worldwide, it seems to be business as usual for governments, private corporations, and individuals who have the power to stall a post-antibiotic apocalypse. In a recent investigation, it was found that the world’s largest veterinary drug-maker, Zoetis, was selling antibiotics as growth promoters to poultry farmers in India, even though it had stopped the practice in the U.S. India is yet to regulate antibiotic-use in poultry, while the U.S. banned the use of antibiotics as growth-promoters in early 2017. So, technically, the drug-maker was doing nothing illegal and complying with local regulations in both countries. But such reasoning is self-defeating because antibiotic-resistance does not respect political boundaries. Of course, the country that stands to lose the most from antibiotic resistance is India, given that its burden of infectious disease is among the world’s highest. According to a 2016 PLOS Medicine paper, 416 of every 100,000 Indians die of infectious diseases each year. This is more than twice the U.S.’s crude infectious-disease mortality-rate in the 1940s when antibiotics were first used there. If these miracle drugs stop working, no one will be hit harder than India.This is why the country’s progress towards a tighter regulatory regime must pick up pace. Consider the three major sources of resistance: overuse of antibiotics by human beings; overuse in the veterinary sector; and environmental antibiotic contamination due to pharmaceutical and hospital discharge. To tackle the first source, India classified important antibiotics under Schedule H1 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules 1945, so that they couldn’t be sold without prescriptions. Still, Schedule H1 drugs are freely available in pharmacies, with state drug-controllers unable to enforce the law widely. As far as veterinary use goes, India’s 2017 National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance did talk about restricting antibiotic use as growth promoters. Sadly, no progress has been made on this front yet, allowing companies to sell last-resort drugs to farmers over the counter. The 2017 document also spoke about regulating antibiotics levels in discharge from pharmaceutical firms. For instance, Hyderabad’s pharmaceutical industry has been pumping massive amounts of antibiotics into local lakes, rivers, and sewers. This has led to an explosion in resistance genes in these waterbodies. Still, India is yet to introduce standards for antibiotics in wastewater, which means antibiotic discharge in sewage is not even being monitored regularly. As the country takes its time to formulate regulations, the toll from antibiotic-misuse is growing at an alarming rate. According to a 2013 estimate, around 58,000 newborns die in India each year due to sepsis from resistant bacteria. When these numbers mount, India will have no one to blame but itself.
MEANINGS AND WORDS
1) dig his heels in
Meaning: To cling stubbornly to one’s beliefs, position, or wishes / to refuse to do something even though other people are trying to persuade you
Example: The more we argued, the more she dug her heels in.
2) Untenable
Meaning : not able to be maintained or defended against attack or objection
Synonyms: indefensible, undefendable, unarguable
Example : “This argument is clearly untenable”
3) efficacy
Meaning: the ability to produce a desired or intended result.
Synonyms: adequacy, ability
Example : “He questioned the efficacy of the alarms in actually preventing auto theft”.
4) pick up
Meaning : an improvement, especially in an economy
Synonyms: improvement, recovery, revival
Antonyms: slump, downturn
Example : “a pickup in the housing market”.
5) Contamination
Meaning : the action or state of making or being made impure by polluting or poisoning.
Example: the risk of contamination by dangerous bacteria.
6) enforce
Meaning: Compel observance of or compliance with (a law, rule, or obligation).
Synonyms: impose, apply, carry out
Antonyms: voluntary
Example: “the role of the police is to enforce the law
7) Restrict
Meaning : limit someone to only doing or having (a particular thing) or staying in (a particular place).
Synonyms: confine, limit; make do with only
Antonyms : Allow, Assist, Expand
Example: “I shall restrict myself to a single example”
8) regulating
Meaning : control or maintain the rate or speed of (a machine or process) so that it operates properly
Synonyms: supervise, oversee
Antonyms : Damage , Worsen
Example: “the Code regulates the takeovers of all public companies”
9) Discharge
Meaning : allow (a liquid, gas, or other substance) to flow out from where it has been confined.
Synonyms : leak, leaking, emission
Antonyms: Hold, Assign
Example: “industrial discharge has turned the river into an open sewer
10) Massive
Meaning : exceptionally large.
Synonyms : huge, enormous, gigantic
Antonyms : Dwarfed, Little
Example : “massive crowds are expected”
11) explosion
Meaning : a violent shattering or blowing apart of something, as is caused by a bomb.
Synonyms: detonation, discharge, eruption
Antonyms: Implosion
Example: Edward was in the car when he heard the explosion”
12) resistance
Meaning : the refusal to accept or comply with something.
Synonyms : opposition to, hostility to, aversion to,
Antonyms : Aid, Help, Peace
Example : “They displayed a narrow-minded resistance to change”
13) formulate
Meaning : create or prepare methodically.
Synonyms: draw up, put together, work out
Antonyms : Halt, Ruin, Destroy
Example : “The government has formulated a policy on waste management”
14) misuse
Meaning : use (something) in the wrong way or for the wrong purpose.
Synonyms : misapply, misemploy, embezzle
Antonyms: Praise
Example : “he was found guilty of misusing public funds”
15) stall
Meaning : stop or cause to stop making progress.
Synonyms : obstruct, impede, interfere with
Antonyms : Advance, Aid , Allow
Example : “his career had stalled, hers taken off”
16) Regulate
Meaning : control (something, especially a business activity) by means of rules and regulations.
Synonyms : supervise, oversee
Antonyms: Damage, Neglect
Example: “the Code regulates the takeovers of all public companies”
17) Comply
Meaning : act in accordance with a wish or command.
Synonyms : observe, obey
Antonyms: Disobey, Deny
Example : “we are unable to comply with your request”
