Subtle Rantings

I’ve long since been a believer that we in America are extremely over medicated. Got a headache? Take this medicine. Got the sniffles? Take this pill. Got a sore throat? You get the idea. And don’t even get me started on all these parents who take some schmuck’s opinion that their kid has ADD or ADHD and they have to be medicated. Bah! It’s called spend some time with your kid’s and learn how to discipline. And before I get spammed profusely for my ADD/ADHD comment, I am not saying they don’t exist, only parents are to quick to medicate versus find the root of the problem. I do believe ADHD exists, but not in the levels that are currently being reported. Then I’ve got my own other theory about why the “legitimate” ADHD cases are occurring as well. But I digress.

I am no scientist, pharmacist or biologist, but I am a firm believer that everytime we treat a small inconvenient symptom with the “big guns” of antibiotics, we are doing ourselves a disservice. I believe we are in the process of creating new strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. And I’m not alone as evidenced in this article from the FDA.

Fortunately, research is already being done on what’s the next solution once we all develop the next superbugs and our antibiotics are useless against them. In this article, we are told of the scientists in Britain who have discovered a method to boost a peptide in the body that will help increase the efficiency of the immune system. The most promising quote in the article is:

“The beauty of this peptide is that it acts on the host to trigger a protective response and doesn’t act on bacteria directly. That means it’s unlikely bacteria will become resistant to it.”

So that’s good news for you parents out there that are lathering your kids up in the anti-bacterial cream that kills 99.9% of all bacteria 24 hours a day. Since basically you are robbing your child’s body of the chance to build up immunities to all the bacterias that exist throughout the world we live in. Maybe that’s why we are always getting sick all the time now. So parents, let your kids go out and play. Let them eat dirt. Let them eat food off the floor (obviously 5 second rule still applies). You might even let them not wash their hands before dinner every now and then. Then maybe we won’t need this new superbug weapon that Britain is developing. Something to think about.

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