To tell the truth, I'm not going to get all excited about bacteria that eat antibiotics. As far as I can tell, this is a good thing.

Do you know how many thousands of soil- and water-contaminating manure lagoons there are in this country? The farmers collect the antibiotic-infused, E.coli O157.H7-contaminated manure from their shoulder-to-shoulder, inhumane, disease-proliferating feedlots and dump it into manure lagoons. This is a government-sponsored stupid idea of how to get rid of manure.

Where do you think the antibiotics are going? You're eating the hormones, as my vet says the hormones mostly stay in the body, but the antibiotics are flushed out and added to the water supply. Nice, huh?

I am trying to grow organic vegetables and fruits, but my only local organic dairy is quitting business. I have been trying to find out what happens to the antibiotics in dairy manure, and here Dan just ups and offers the answer.

This is good news to me. It means that the dairy manure can be composted, and the bacteria will eat the antibiotics. Sure, NOT having antibiotics in the composted manure would be better, but that's mostly a daydream.

Bacteria have been around for about three million years, and if we did manage to get rid of all of them, it would also be the end of us. Without bacteria and fungi, there is no humus. Without humus, there is no food.

Anyway, thanks for the info, Dan! You've made my day! Actually, I think you've made my year!

Sue