If you didn’t come here following a link from the "autoevolution Behind the Scenes/Anniversary" editorial, let us break it down for you. Back in December 2008, the autoevolution.com website was coming alive, albeit not in the "Frankenstein – It’s aliiive!" sense, naturally.
One year, lots of fun, sweat and inherent problems later, here we are with a small data base consisting of thirty test drives (among much more, of course), so we thought we might as well gi… (read more)
High frequency trading is the new nightmare for the 21st century trader.
Powerful computers, located next to the exchanges, run complex algorithms to execute trades in split second timing.
These setups are expensive and require very smart people as well as very smart computers.
So how can you, the amateur investor, stand a chance against these brutes in the open market? Simply put: you can’t.
Cyborg Trading, a company we discussed in brief here on TBI, looks to close the gap for small fry investors looking for an edge. For a relatively low monthly cost ($200-$400), you too can have access to GUI-based algo builders and pools of liquidity.
Cyborg has been creating a series of videos aimed at “teaching” you how to HFT, or really, how bad you’re getting screwed by their customers and why you too should subscribe to their service. We’ll look at 10 videos that prove once and for all, the little guy has no chance in this game of chance.
Join the conversation about this story »
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Yesterday, we went out on a limb and asked our 20-40+ crowd whether or not they would buy a Buick vehicle. Today, we figured we would cater to the 25 and under looking for a brand new car for college or those individuals coming out of college and are looking for an affordable commuter car (seeing as your first official 9 to 5 pay check won’t be as fat as the ones you get later in life).
So, with that in mind we picked the most popular compact sedans and are wondering which one you would pick. Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, Volkswagen Jetta or the Mazda3.
Let us know your answer in the comments section below.
Here is what the egmCarTech team thinks:
Omar Rana (Editor in Chief): Mazda3 – hands down.
Stephen Calogera (Senior Editor): Mazda3.
Kap Shah (Senior Editor – West Coast): Volkswagen Jetta 5MT.
Anna Tarasova (Editor): Honda Civic Coupe.
– By: Omar Rana
Actress Zelda Rubinstein — who starred in Steven Spielberg’s 1981 cinema classic Poltergeist and later appeared as Madame Serena in the 1989 cult classic Teen Witch — is near death after being taken off life support early Tuesday.
The 76-year-old star has been hospitalized for more than a month at Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after two of her major organs failed.
“Her lungs and kidneys have failed and she’s in and out of consciousness. It’s only a matter of time now – she doesn’t have long to live,” a friend of the star revealed.
Best wishes to Zelda…….
El medio Autoblog acaba de publicar una noticia en la que se afirma que BAIC, el comprador de la tecnología de Saab, lanzará una nueva marca para comercializar diferentes modelos que harán uso de esta tecnología.
En concreto, BAIC abrirá una nueva fábrica en la que producirá 100.000 unidades anualmente. Esta nueva marca contará con una gama de tres o cinco modelos que harán uso de las plataformas suecas como bien hemos mencionado anteriormente.
También debemos destacar que utilizarán los motores sobrealimentados de Saab. Por el momento y como es de esperar, General Motors no ha querido desmentir esta noticia asi que tendremos que seguir atentos.
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Here’s an issue that I think will greatly effect startups building the next-generation of home energy management tools over the next couple of months: Many utilities won’t be turning on the wireless communication chips (most often the wireless standard ZigBee) in their smart meters until well into 2010, and it will be a very controlled […]
We’ve been keeping an eye on real-time search company Collecta for a while now, and we’ve been consistently impressed with their product.
The startup has been making headlines throughout 2009 and is wrapping up the year with a bang. This morning, they announced a partnership with MySpace. The resulting utility is part pulse check, part search engine, and all fun. It also serves as an automatically refreshing reminder that this social network is far from dead yet, especially where entertainment properties are concerned.
Sponsor
The new product is based on Collecta’s site search platform and MySpace’s real-time API. For search results on everything from weather to celebrities to trending keywords, it returns a filterable, streaming gallery of a collection of comments, photos, links and videos posted to MySpace by users.
Based on IM protocols, Collecta’s search platform pushes out content in real time as it’s published. Each result also includes the poster’s “mood,” which also serves as a built-in mechanism for sentiment analysis.
“Collecta brings the size and richness of the MySpace community to light,” said MySpace COO Mike Jones.
“Its instantaneous results provide insight into our users’ moods and activities. It’s great to see how quickly Collecta has used the MySpace Real-Time Stream API to deliver new value to people on the web.”
Collecta CEO Gerry Campbell also called MySpace one of the most vibrant web properties, saying, “MySpace users are actively sharing an amazing volume of pictures and media, as well as expressing their thoughts on a very emotional and raw level. Our search platform cuts right into the center of all this activity. It reveals a slice of humanity that you couldn’t see otherwise. Even a search for a basic term like ‘happy’ is incredibly fascinating.”
In addition to showing results for search terms, the new product also shows a brief overview of three top trends currently on MySpace.
Collecta’s general search function currently aggregates data from a slew of news and social sites and will soon incorporate publicly available data from MySpace, as well.
MySpace’s partnership shows an interesting use of Collecta’s site search, but it’s far from the only application. The platform can be used to show activity, trends and perspectives on just about any website.
I’ve never understood book price fixing laws in Europe, that require books to be sold at the same price. Economically challenged individuals claim that this helps independent booksellers who aren’t forced to undercut prices of other book chains. Except, of course, forcing higher prices on everyone actually leads to fewer books purchased, less innovation and less opportunity for those independent bookstores to offer something better. These laws have caused trouble for Amazon in the past. Over in France, Amazon’s famous free shipping promotions were deemed illegal for being an effective “price discount” on books. And now a bookseller is suing Amazon in Germany for supposedly violating fixed prices on books as well (found via Michael Scott). In this case, the bookseller is sick of people showing up with printouts from Amazon, and wants to force Amazon to offer higher prices, because apparently consumers must suffer.
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Filed under: Aftermarket, Motorsports, Coupe, Performance, Porsche, Quick Spin
When Porsche introduced the Cayman in 2006, one thing was abundantly clear: Porsche had muzzled its midship coupe to prevent cannibalizing 911 sales. Despite a more favorable weight distribution and an unflappable chassis, the Cayman lacked the power to exploit its excellent underpinnings, even in “S” guise. So like its Boxster sibling, the Cayman was destined to play second fiddle to Porsche’s iconic rear-engine flagship. From a business perspective, Porsche’s decision made sense. For enthusiasts, it was yet another bitter pill from Zuffenhausen.
When the Cayman underwent a refresh, there was always hope that a turbocharged variant would be included in the line-up. Predictably, that never happened. So the Cayman continued to stand on the lower/middle rung of the Porsche ladder, offering less power and a lower price than the 911. The Cayman could dance. It just needed an extra bit of oomph.
That’s where Mike Levitas comes in. Mike is the brains behind TPCRacing of Jessup, MD. Born of a family of automotive tinkerers, Mike spent most of his formative years learning about turbos and turning that knowledge to race cars – fast, reliable race cars that won championships. Like most other Porsche enthusiasts, Mike thought the Cayman could use more power. Turbocharged power. But unlike most of the marque’s devotees, Mike made it happen.
Photos by Frank Filipponio / Copyright (C)2009 Weblogs, Inc.
Continue reading Quick Spin: TPCRacing Cayman S Turbo picks up where Porsche left off
Quick Spin: TPCRacing Cayman S Turbo picks up where Porsche left off originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 29 Dec 2009 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
UK Guardian is reporting (emphasis added),
A German computer scientist has cracked the codes used to encrypt calls made from more than 80% of the world’s mobile phones.
Karsten Nohl [K: Nohl’s U of Virginia page] and his team of 24 hackers began working on the security algorithm for GSM (Global System for Mobiles) in August.
[…] Nohl claims that armed with the code, which has been published online, and a laptop with two network cards, an eavesdropper could be recording phone calls within 15 minutes.
“This shows that existing GSM security is inadequate,” Nohl told the Chaos Communication Congress, an international annual meeting of hackers taking place in Berlin this week.
Nohl insisted that he had deciphered the code to force the global telecommunications industry to upgrade its security.
Nohl told the Guardian that important negotiations involving politicians or business leaders could easily be intercepted and they should invest in further encryption software to protect their privacy. “If there is anything secret going on using GSM, this should be of concern.”
More report in NYT and The Register.
Anyone who cares about our communication security based on Cryptography should know that the only way to keep our communication secure is to conduct open and active research in the field where weakness and problems are dealt with in a prompt and appropriate manner. Security through obscurity is NOT an option, and if I were less diplomatic, I would say it is plain stupid to rely our treasured security on obscurity.
Posted in Cryptography, Math, Telecom, World 
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Roundup: Climate science in 2009
The Guardian Amidst continued discussions on targets — whether to stabilize atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations at 450 or 350 parts per million, … and more » |
…"Y’know one of the most beautiful things about a car? If it isn’t working properly, you can strip the skin off, expose the insides, find out exactly where the trouble is, take out the faulty part and replace it with a new one. If only we could do that with people!" – Grand Prix, 1966
In case there are still some of you who missed it by now, here at autoevolution we’re all about cars, bikes and almost anything with an engine. Some of us are oldschool petrolheads, whil… (read more)
Michael Lohan’s former fiancee has accused the celebrity dad of physically abusing her throughout their two-year relationship. According Erin Muller, of Long Island, Lohan physically assaulted her at least 12 times during the union, including one occasion during which he kicked Muller in the vagina.
Lohan — a convicted felon-turned-Christian — has been arrested twice in the past six months on allegations of stalking Muller.
Muller filed court documents accusing Lohan of abuse after the following incidents:
Dec. 9, 2007 – Michael “slapped Erin in the face twice because Erin accused him of giving her a fake watch on her birthday.”
Feb. 2008 – Michael “punched Erin in the mouth” because she had a male friend on Facebook
March 2008 – Michael “whipped a computer cord” at her face but she blocked it with her hand … causing a laceration.
May 5, 2008 – Michael “kicked Erin Muller in the ribs.”
May 2008 – Michael “kicked Erin Muller in the vagina, bruising it and causing substantial pain.”
June 2008 – Michael “spit in Erin’s face, and beat her repeatedly with his fist.” Then he “yelled at her to ’stop crying c*nt — other people will see you — if they see you, I will kill you!’”
Como ya muchos sabran, los primeros modelos del Mini E ya han sido entregados a sus respectivos dueños y no son buenas noticias las que acaban de salir a la luz. Los primeros tests en condiciones reales han relevado que el frio no le sienta nada bien a los vehículos eléctricos.
Un propietario afirma que la autonomía inicial de 240 km se ve reducida en condiciones normales a un máximo de 130 km. Mientras que con temperaturas muy bajas (en torno a -6ºC) la autonomía se puede ver reducida a menos de 90 km con una carga completa, algo demasiado bajo.
La explicación de esta reducción no es otra que uno de los grandes inconvenientes de la utilización de baterías de litio, el sistema típico de almacenamiento de energía de los eléctricos, es que su capacidad se puede ver reducida hasta en un 25% con temperaturas muy bajas.
Por el momento no se ha dado ninguna solución al problema asi que tendremos que seguir esperando hasta que los fabricantes puedan desarrollar nuevas baterías que no se vean afectadas por las bajas temperaturas.
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The result from Copenhagen is an Accord that looks very different than what has come before.
The Copenhagen meeting broke new ground in a number of rather historic ways. Never before have heads of state from nations in Asia, Latin America, Africa and North America negotiated an agreement, let alone one so complex as this. Although not specifically planned, it became clear when leaders arrived that their negotiators had been unable to outline even the key choices they needed to make, forcing heads to either engage in a much more detailed fashion than expected or accept no outcome. Luckily they decided on the former, wrenching the decision away from a rather dysfunctional global diplomatic establishment which was unable to come to closure on any of the core issues.
The result of this engagement was an agreement that looks very different than what has come before. The world has shifted from a period in which a limited set of countries were taking limited actions without a stated long-term goal under a Protocol which had some good provisions but also a number of flaws, to a period in which almost all nations are committed to actions that are hopefully significant, with an explicit goal, under an Accord which right now leaves many many questions unresolved. This shift, along with the uncertainty of what it really means, has resulted in many governments and observer commentaries about the turn of events towards the end of the meeting. This piece focuses on what was agreed.
Prior to the Copenhagen meeting, WRI published a working paper which outlined three main areas where agreement was needed in order to judge the meeting a success: a solid foundation, the big picture (targets and actions) and support for developing countries.
In assessing the result of the meeting, the Copenhagen Accord (Accord) is a bit of a mixed result, one that is more or less encouraging depending on the expectations going into the meeting.
On the positive side, the Accord creates a system whereby every major economy must report and have internationally reviewed its emissions and national plans at least every other year. This new system of “measuring, reporting and verifying” was one of the core wins for the United States, which was operating under strong insistence from the US Senate that such a system be created. Those commitments, either in the form of economy-wide emission reduction targets for industrialized countries or nationally appropriate mitigation actions for developing countries will be written into the Copenhagen Accord, thus internationalizing national policies and measures so that there can be an international review of the implementation and effectiveness of such policies.
Clarity is needed on how to turn the short sentences of the Accord into operating mechanisms.
This “writing in”, “pledging” or “committing” of targets and actions into two appendices (one for developed and one for developing countries) has friends and foes as well. Friends of this concept cite the greater likelihood that such “internationalized” national commitments will be implemented and welcome a new reality check on internationally negotiated commitments. Foes note that there is no “negotiating up” of such national commitments towards a global goal. Targets and actions are no longer negotiated but merely pledged, thus removing one of the main “value adds” of an international agreement, and would be completely dependent on national political circumstances.
The first test of this new approach is whether countries put forward ambitious targets and actions by January 31, 2010 as the Accord requires. Thus, only in February will the international community be able to judge whether countries are taking the Accord seriously and willing to go further than originally planned. This is perhaps mostly a question for Europe and Australia, both of which put forward conditional pledges that were never operationalized in Copenhagen. It would certainly build trust and strengthen the Accord significantly if both were to go up to the top of their ranges (i.e. 30% for Europe and 25% for Australia). Equally if not more important in this field of course is that the United States put in place a binding law to reduce emissions in the first half of 2010.
In addition, there is a provision in the Accord to create rigorous, robust and transparent accounting standards for industrialized country targets. This is a hook to create a consistent set of international standards and norms by which countries set and measure their targets. If put in place it would move the system up from a mere “pledge and review” system to one in which apples can be compared with apples and oranges with oranges. The world will be able to compare country efforts and make judgments of implementation and build a global carbon market. This is therefore a high priority for rulemaking in 2010.
While it clearly is a solid step to get such a system in place, the price was extremely high. In the end there seems to have been a trade-off between creating such a system and agreeing on a set of ambitious emissions reduction targets. Rather than agreeing on a set of aggregate targets for global, industrialized and developing countries to reach in 2020 and 2050, as had long been suggested in the text and supported by many countries, the Accord merely (notes) the long-term goal of keeping global average temperature below 2 degrees C and suggests a full review of the Accord by 2015, keeping the 1.5 degrees C long-term goal in mind.
If Copenhagen is to be judged in the future as any type of success or step forward, the Accord must become the driving force for ambitious actions and support.
Gone are the benchmarks against which to measure whether national targets and actions are strong enough to make a difference in avoiding catastrophic climate change. In addition, such “commitments” are not being placed in a Protocol or other legally binding instrument, but rather in a non-binding Accord. Opinions and analysis vary on how important being internationally binding is for implementation of international commitments. It is clear, however, that when given a choice, legally binding is preferable. However it was not possible yet in Copenhagen. Perhaps if the United States can pass a nationally binding law, developing counties will feel more comfortable signing up to a binding international agreement, perhaps even with some aggregate long-term targets. The level of bindingness on the side of commitments from the United States and the major emerging economies will likely be fundamental in determining whether the Kyoto Protocol moves forward in the post-2012 time period.
The Accord does include a series of actions to support developing countries. Again, the credibility of the Accord rests on whether these items are quickly operationalized and whether the pledged funds are indeed new and additional or merely recycled support from prior times. One must hope that the $30 billion of quick start funding ramping up to the $100 billion of long-term financing is real and will start flowing quite quickly. Indeed, the new multi-lateral funding that is supposed to flow through the Copenhagen Green Climate Fund and the High Level Panel created to study the contribution of potential sources of revenue are steps in the right direction. They must, however, be the first in a series of steps to deliver quick start and long-term financing. This will certainly be a central ingredient for many developing countries to decide whether to sign up to the new Accord and judge whether Copenhagen made any changes in their worlds or not.
The Accord includes a line that notes “the immediate establishment of a mechanism including REDD-plus, to enable the mobilization of financial resources from developed countries.” It also creates a “Technology cooperation mechanism” and actions new funding for Adaptation. All of these are generally welcome developments, but clarity is needed on how to turn these short sentences of the Accord into operating mechanisms. The decisions that were being negotiated in contact groups were quite far along and should serve as a basis for quick operationalization of these elements of the Accord.
Likely the most important open question is where this new Accord is housed and how it functions. Having been “taken note of” by the Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, it does have some rightful place under the UNFCCC. However, not all Parties are likely to sign such an Accord. While all but a handful of countries signaled support early on the final morning of Copenhagen, it is still unclear how many will sign up.
The Accord could provide a new forum that represents not just the largest and wealthiest as the G20 and Major Economies Forum (MEF) do. Seeing that most small island developing states (SIDs), Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and African countries indicated support, the Accord could form a new North-South basis for climate cooperation, freed from the blocking tactics of some oil producing nations and single issue countries. If the requirement of consensus voting for every decision means that it remains impossible to get rules of procedure adopted in the UNFCCC, (an item raised by Papua New Guinea the first day of Copenhagen and blocked by Saudi Arabia and others) a new way of working will be necessary.
Indeed if Copenhagen is to be judged in the future as any type of success or step forward, the Accord must become the driving force for ambitious actions and support, a place where the major economies, led by the industrialized countries, demonstrate their seriousness with deep targets and actions while at the same time providing the support needed desperately by the most vulnerable.
Let us hope that the Copenhagen Accord is the basis for such an ambitious coalition, with Step One being strong targets committed by January 31st 2010, Step Two being the passage of a strong climate bill in the United States Senate in the first half of 2010, and the final important Step Three being new and additional quick start and long-term finance. With that basis countries should then be prepared to go the extra step soon – agreeing to a legally binding instrument with strong aggregate targets and timetables. The stakes are too high to stay in the blame game. It is now time to act.
Interesting. It looks like Google won’t be entirely shaking up any wireless industries at the present time, but it will be pushing forward with its own “flagship” device by selling it directly to consumers. While our connect’s internal T-Mobile photo is rather small, we’ve broken down the text for you:
Google, with support from T-Mobile, is scheduled to launch a new Android device in early January. The Google Android phone will be sold directly by Google via the Web.
Support for the device including troubleshooting and exchanges will be managed by Google and HTC. T-Mobile will offer service support including billing, coverage, features, and rate plans. Additional details Streamline content regarding the launch of Google’s Android phone will be coming in early January.
So… Google is simply selling the phone directly for now, as rumored, and T-Mobile will “officially” support it, even though they practically do the same for any unlocked handset on their network. Google and HTC will be fielding support calls from users, and I’m not quite sure how I feel about that. Unless this is only the Android Development 3 phone. But it’s not just that. And T-Mobile could possibly subsidize it in or around March. Ok, bye.
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It’s a well known fact that the Palm Pre (Plus?) will grace Verizon’s shelves at some point; the remaining question boils down to the timeframe for launch. It’s widely believed that the “P101” moniker seen in several leaked documents refers to a Verizon version of the device. On the Wi-Fi Interoperability Certificate, the unit is referred to as a “P101EWW,” and received certification on December 18th, 2009.
Call me crazy, but I think the leaked training slides, documents, and Wi-Fi certification that we’ve seen all make for a nice announcement at CES next week. Are there any Verizon customers itching to pick up the Pre (or Pixi, since we know it’s coming as well)?
Via: Engadget Mobile
Jay Leno recently use the 2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG to find Hollywood’s Hidden Street Circuit, in a short movie that is inspried by Rendezvous, one of the most critically-acclaimed automotive films ever.
You can check out Jay Leno’s Fast and the Famous after the jump along with the making of the short movie.
Click here for more Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG news.
Refresher: Power comes from a 6.2L V8 making 563-hp with a maximum torque of 479 lb-ft. Mated to an E-SELECT system that controls the AMG SPEEDSHIFT DCT 7-speed sports transmission, the SLS AMG can go from 0 to 62 mph in just 3.7 seconds (with the Race Start launch control system) with a top speed of 196 mph.
Hit the jump for the video.
2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG:
Jay Leno – Fast and the Famous:
The Making of Fast and the Famous:
2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG:
– By: Omar Rana
The Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) has approved, with modifications, the Illinois Power Agency’s (IPA) plan to purchase electricity supply for residential and small commercial customers of ComEd and Ameren Illinois utilities. The IPA filed its …
Date: Tuesday Dec. 29, 2009 8:14 AM ET
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FRANKENSTEIN, Mo. — The mystery started the day farmer Russ Kremer got between a jealous boar and a sow in heat. The boar gored Kremer in the knee with a razor-sharp tusk. The burly pig farmer shrugged it off, figuring: "You pour the blood out of your boot and go on." But Kremer’s red-hot leg ballooned to double its size. A strep infection spread, threatening his life and baffling doctors. Two months of multiple antibiotics did virtually nothing. The answer was flowing in the veins of the boar. The animal had been fed low doses of penicillin, spawning a strain of strep that was resistant to other antibiotics. That drug-resistant germ passed to Kremer. Like Kremer, more and more Americans — many of them living far from barns and pastures — are at risk from the widespread practice of feeding livestock antibiotics. These animals grow faster, but they can also develop drug-resistant infections that are passed on to people. The issue is now gaining attention because of interest from a new White House administration and a flurry of new research tying antibiotic use in animals to drug resistance in people. Researchers say the overuse of antibiotics in humans and animals has led to a plague of drug-resistant infections that killed more than 65,000 people in the U.S. last year — more than prostate and breast cancer combined. And in a nation that used about 35 million pounds of antibiotics last year, 70 percent of the drugs went to pigs, chickens and cows. Worldwide, it’s 50 percent. "This is a living breathing problem, it’s the big bad wolf and it’s knocking at our door," said Dr. Vance Fowler, an infectious disease specialist at Duke University. "It’s here. It’s arrived." The rise in the use of antibiotics is part of a growing problem of soaring drug resistance worldwide, The Associated Press found in a six-month look at the issue. As a result, killer diseases like malaria, tuberculosis and staph are resurging in new and more deadly forms. In response, the pressure against the use of antibiotics in agriculture is rising. The World Health Organization concluded this year that surging antibiotic resistance is one of the leading threats to human health, and the White House last month said the problem is "urgent." "If we’re not careful with antibiotics and the programs to administer them, we’re going to be in a post antibiotic era," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, who was tapped to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this year. Also this year, the three federal agencies tasked with protecting public health — the Food and Drug Administration, CDC and U.S. Department of Agriculture — declared drug-resistant diseases stemming from antibiotic use in animals a "serious emerging concern." And FDA deputy commissioner Dr. Joshua Sharfstein told Congress this summer that farmers need to stop feeding antibiotics to healthy farm animals. Farm groups and pharmaceutical companies argue that drugs keep animals healthy and meat costs low, and have defeated a series of proposed limits on their use. _______ America’s farmers give their pigs, cows and chickens about 8 percent more antibiotics each year, usually to heal lung, skin or blood infections. However, 13 percent of the antibiotics administered on farms last year were fed to healthy animals to make them grow faster. Antibiotics also save as much as 30 percent in feed costs among young swine, although the savings fade as pigs get older, according to a new USDA study. However, these animals can develop germs that are immune to the antibiotics. The germs then rub into scratches on farmworkers’ arms, causing oozing infections. They blow into neighboring communities in dust clouds, run off into lakes and rivers during heavy rains, and are sliced into roasts, chops and hocks and sent to our dinner tables. "Antibiotic-resistant microorganisms generated in the guts of pigs in the Iowa countryside don’t stay on the farm," said Union of Concerned Scientists Food and Environment director Margaret Mellon. More than 20 percent of all human cases of a deadly drug-resistant staph infection in the Netherlands could be traced to an animal strain, according to a study published online in a CDC journal. Federal food safety studies routinely find drug resistant bacteria in beef, chicken and pork sold in supermarkets, and 20 percent of people who get salmonella have a drug resistant strain, according to the CDC. Here’s how it happens: In the early ’90s, farmers in several countries, including the U.S., started feeding animals fluoroquinolones, a family of antibiotics that includes drugs such as ciprofloxacin. In the following years, the once powerful antibiotic Cipro stopped working 80 percent of the time on some of the deadliest human infections it used to wipe out. Twelve years later, the New England Journal of Medicine published a study linking people infected with a Cipro-resistant bacteria to pork they had eaten. Johns Hopkins University health sciences professor Ellen Silbergeld, who has reviewed every major study on this issue, said there’s no doubt drug use in farm animals is a "major driver of antimicrobial resistance worldwide." "We have data to show it’s in wastewaters and it goes to aquaculture and it goes here and there," agreed Dr. Stuart Levy, an expert on antibiotic resistance at Tufts University in Boston. "Antibiotic use in animals impacts everything." _______ Farmer Craig Rowles remains unconvinced. It’s afternoon in one of his many rural Iowa pig barns, roaring with snorting and squealing pigs. Some snooze in corners, while others hustle toward their troughs, their slop laced with a steady supply of antibiotics. "If there was some sort of crossover between the use of the antibiotics in animals and the antibiotics in humans, if there was in fact a real issue there, wouldn’t you think we would have seen it?" said Rowles, also a veterinarian who sells 150,000 hogs a year. "That’s what the science says to me." The modular modern barn, home to 1,000 pigs, is a hygienic place. Manure plops through slatted floorboards; an invisible funk steams back up. Rowles dons a sanitary white paper jumpsuit and slips plastic booties over his shoes; he’s anxious that his 100-pound pigs aren’t exposed to outside germs. A few sick swine are isolated, corralled in a pen near the entrance. Antibiotics are a crucial part of Rowles’ business, speeding growth and warding off disease. "Now the public doesn’t see that," he said. "They’re only concerned about resistance, and they don’t care about economics because, ‘As long as I can buy a pork chop for a buck 69 a pound, I really don’t care.’ But we live in a world where you have to consider economics in the decision-making process of what we do." Rowles gives his pigs virginiamycin, which has been used in livestock for decades and is not absorbed by the gut. He withdraws the drug three weeks before his hogs are sent for slaughter. He also monitors his herd for signs of drug resistance to ensure they are getting the most effective doses. "The one thing that the American public wants to know is: Is the product that I’m getting, is it safe to eat?" said Rowles, whose home freezer is full of his pork. "I’m telling you that the product that we produce today is the safest, most wholesome product that you could possibly get. |
