You can't criticize one pseudoscience when supporting another.

[Sancho]

279. Then you simply refuse to see the obvious...

it is clear that the current mess was NOT anticipated. Even if scientists were aware of the development of resistance, the mechanisms, superbugs, speed of resistance development, difficulties with antibiotics used in farm animals affecting everyone, etc. were not predicted to the extent that anyone cared. This is from one of the links I posted:

"Past history provides recurrent warnings. Following its introduction in the United States in the 1950s, penicillin was available over the counter for almost 10 years before prescriptions were required. Thus, we can assume that a “core” population of antibiotic-resistant strains was established by the early 1960s in most industrialized nations." That's not ME. That's the medical community in the 50's!

You can continue to pick at the bits of history, but the overall conclusion of the links I provided by scholars and the CDC are that the field of medicine or governments or scientists or farmers at the least ignored the possible consequences even if they "knew" resistance could develop. I suppose you think everyone is simply suicidal?!? Of course not. Sometimes we don't know enough, and sometimes we know but don't have the political will to do something about it. Sometimes it's a combination of the two.

They did not know (and we still don't) all the mechanisms involved in all the complex bacterial actions and certainly farmers didn't know the consequences of widespread use. That's why the rules are changing now. Whether the problems of today are a lack of knowledge or a lack of action or both - the situation with antibiotics today is a possible parallel to GMOs, but we don't know! The timeline on GMOs is not long enough.

The analogy holds. Even if we "think" we understand early GMO mechanisms and mutations, etc., etc., there has not been time and study to prevent "anticipated/possible/alleged" future problems. I realize there are irrational websites, but some may have exactly the same kind of warning today that those who "knew" that bacterial resistance was on the horizon may have warned of in the 40's. An example is http://www.responsibletechnology.org/10-Reasons-to-Avoid-GMOs . I'm not for or against GMOs. Maybe its a bunch of quacks, but maybe in the 1940's someone was saying, "let's not give out antibiotics without prescriptions" or use them in farm animals. It happened anyway.

I think that many highly trained people didn't know antibiotic resistance problems would be such a challenge. When my father was practicing in the 50's, 60's, and 70's (and teaching in a medical school), I'm sure he was aware of "resistance", but there was no real concern. It was a chapter in a book. Meanwhile, sample packs of V-Cillin K were handed out like candy. If you had a sore throat family doctors rarely cared if it was a virus or strep. Everyone got a prescription. People took half of them and threw the rest in the water system or saved them in case they got sick again! On our family farm in the 60's, cows and pigs were fed antibiotics. There was little discussion of superbugs or changes in training at that time. There was certainly no public awareness. It was the 60's or 70's when I remember the first warnings about Phisohex. If "we" were the educated few, then "we" must have been living in a cave somewhere!

If it makes you feel better, you can assume that knowledge ignored is different than knowledge unknown!