Antibiotics, pesticides at risk

RESISTANCE TO antibiotics and pesticides is rising at alarming rates, shows the first estimates of antibiotic and pesticide "planetary boundaries", published in Nature Sustainability. If resistance to antibiotics and pesticides goes beyond these boundaries, societies risk large-scale health and agricultural crises, say the researchers who have assessed the state of six types of resistance— antibiotic resistance in Gramnegative and Gram-positive bacteria; general resistance to insecticides and herbicides; and resistance to transgenic Btcrops and glyphosate resistance in herbicide resistant cropping systems. Gram-negative bacteria, which includes well-known pathogens such as Salmonella, Klebsiella pneumoniae and E coli, are already beyond the "planetary boundary," as some strains of several species are already resistant to all or most antibiotics tested. Pesticide resistance is also an urgent concern, particularly resistance to glyphosate and insecticidal Bt-toxins in transgenic crops, which are now widespread. Some herbicides and Bt toxins have already reached regional boundaries with some farming areas reporting large-scale resistance to them.