What about antibiotics? It used to be that they were thought of as the next best thing to apple pie. Take a few and those nasty colds got better-or did they? It turns out that those colds are caused by viruses. And guess what? Antibiotics don’t work against viruses. You assume that because you took the antibiotics and then a few days later, felt better that the antibiotics worked.

Problem is that you would have gotten better anyways. You don’t assume that after the sun rose yesterday and you got into a car accident that the sunrise caused the accident. So cause and effect are not necessarily linked.

True enough that antibiotics have saved countless lives, just as vaccines have. Yet antibiotics are prescribed for many conditions which don’t need them. Virusesare the usual cause of colds, ear infections and even certain pneumonias. In a busy doctor’s office or ER many of us will just write the prescription  rather than taking the time to explain why antibiotics are not needed.

What the result is are infections resistant to most anything. Side effects such as serious allergic reactions, organ damage and immune system impairment can and do occur. Furthermore, we already  get plenty of antibiotics from livestock which is inundated with these drugs to prevent growth and maximize profit. Pills flushed down the toilet end up in the ground water and we drink this water.

So the next time you have a cold or a minor ear infection, ask your doctor if you really need that prescription of the latest and greatest antibiotic. Less is more.