Photo Credit: Ryan Thompson

A recent report from a Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education project demonstrates that organic medicinal treatments for livestock can be just as effective as conventional treatments. The project, led by researchers at North Carolina State University, compared herbal treatments for infections such as mastitis with conventional antibiotics. They found that the two herbal treatments tested in the study, Phyto-Mast and Cinnatube, were just as effective in curing infections as conventional antibiotics. This research is especially important in the face of the dangers of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Current agricultural use of antibiotics has led to the development of super bugs, which, according to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control last year, account for over 2 million illnesses and 23 thousand deaths. By using effective organic solutions, such as the herbal treatments documented in this research, we can slow the development of these hazardous bacterial strains by illuminating the agricultural overuse of antibiotics.