Yesterday we shared the trailer for an amazing new documentary called “Resistance” which uncovers the way the misuse of antibiotics may actually be hurting more than helping.
Today we have creator Michael Graziano’s interview with our Intent staff and he’s sharing the things he learned about the surprising future of antibiotics, his favorite Swedish singer and taking big risks for the sake of following your gut.
What was your inspiration for launching the project that would become “Resistance”
A: Our previous film Lunch Line was about the history and politics of the National School Lunch Program. In the process of making and touring that film we partnered with a number of environmental and public health advocacy groups and they started telling us about MRSA (resistant staph) infections in school locker rooms, day care centers and the like. At the same time we also learned about the overuse of antibiotics on conventional animal farms. I decided to look more into the issue and was shocked by what I discovered. I thought the problem deserved a closer, and more accessible examination than I could find at the time. That’s what got me into the subject. The inspiration to keep going and see it through came from the powerful, and often heart-wrenching, stories of the individuals I met who have confronted the crisis of resistance first-hand.
What do you see as the biggest pitfalls on our horizon if we as a species don’t grow in our understanding of our microbial world?
A: Although we often imagine ourselves to be outside of nature, in a basic and totalizing way microbes run the planet. We now know that even our bodies are outnumbered 10 to 1 on a cellular level by microbes (that is, on a cellular level our body mass is 10x more microbial than human). We are, as such, part of a vast, interconnected ecosystem of ecosystems, a notion often referred to as the Gaia principle, and our actions with antimicrobial chemicals (among other things) disrupt the balance of this system creating a great deal of danger for ourselves in the process.
The ability of antibiotics to treat bacterial infections is miraculous, and I’m grateful to live in an era when these drugs are available. When we overuse and use them inappropriately, however, we train potentially harmful bacteria how to defeat the only mechanism we have to treat ourselves if they make us sick.
What is your advice to Intent users for things they can implement in their own homes that will make a big difference in their lives and/or the planet?
A: Antibiotics are a miracle. If you or those you care about have a bacterial infection you absolutely want access to effective antibiotics. That said, not only does unnecessary exposure to antibiotics not help you, but it can hurt you, sometimes acutely – through adverse reactions – and also more subtly by causing changes to your microbiome. The consequences of those subtle long-term exposures is still emerging, but the risk is real and serious and I think we should proceed with caution. Antibiotics are a precious resource that we must preserve, replenish and stop taking for granted. For personal health, the health of our loved ones, and for our communities we must reduce as much unnecessary exposure to antibiotics as possible. We can all make smarter choices about:
- The way we interact with our doctors (don’t demand antibiotics from your doctor and don’t take antibiotics when you don’t need them. If your doctor says you need an antibiotic, ask questions: Why? What’s the cost/benefit of waiting or not taking them at all?)
- The kinds of products we buy (e.g. you don’t need antibacterial soap, much less antimicrobial-infused athletic gear or cooking supplies – these are real things with real risks) Look out for products containing the active ingredient triclosan in particular.
- The food we eat (if you’re an omnivore, was your meat raised on a cocktail of antibiotics? If you’re a vegetarian, were your fruits or vegetables sprayed with antibiotics?)
We should also all demand that our elected officials pass legislation to regulate antibiotics more carefully.
What techniques do you use for keeping intentions at the forefront when going through your day? How do you set goals?
A: I struggle with keeping intentions. I’m easily side-tracked, but I try to use reminder and list-making apps to help and they sometimes do.
Right now I am reading/watching/listening to…
A: Reading: Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon – it’s one of those books I’ve always wanted to read, but never had the time and right now I’m traveling with the film quite a bit so I have some nice air travel time to plow into to it. It’s dense…
Watching: Veep on HBO – There are 3 seasons so it’s been great for binge-watching, the cast is genius, and it makes me laugh out loud
Listening to: A Swedish/Argentine artist named José González
Food I can’t live without is…
A: Pizza. It’s so versatile and delicious. Also, I have kids and Pizza is a great Trojan Horse for introducing nutritious vegetables and other ingredients in what seems like a treat.
Something you learned recently that interested or surprised you is…
A: I learned a few surprising facts while making the film. One is that there are basically no new antibiotics in the pharmaceutical pipeline, and even if a new compound were discovered today it could take 10 years and $1 billion for that compound to become a clinically useful medicine. To make matters worse, the large investment in time and money required for antibiotic development, along with some other factors addressed in the film, has caused many pharma companies to shutter their antibiotic development units so there are now only a small handful of companies actually doing this critical research.
Another is that official estimates warn that half of all antibiotic prescriptions in the US are unnecessary. HALF. That seems crazy once you learn about what’s at stake and how resistance works.
Another is that 80 percent of antibiotics sold in the U.S. are used on farms. This statistic is also maddening when you consider the reasons for the agricultural overuse – chiefly to make animals grow faster and to compensate for dirty and/or crowded conditions on farms.
What inspires you?
A: People who overcome great odds and do seemingly small, unglamorous work with dignity and care.
Has there ever been a big risk that you took and ended up being really glad you did?
A: A few years ago I was in the final stages of a PhD program and was on course to become a professor. I even had a tenure-track job offer at a large four-year university, but I was harboring deep and growing anxieties about my future as an academic. After much soul-searching and hours of discussion with my wife Jennifer I turned down the job and dropped the PhD program to pursue full-time filmmaking. I was married with two kids at the time. I gave up a lot of security and assumed a ton of risk to make this change. I’m not sure if it’s “paid off” exactly, Jennifer would probably have a thing or two to say about that, but I feel as though I’m a much better spouse, father, friend and neighbor for choosing a risky path that invigorated me rather than a safe path that appeared headed toward a muck-filled personal rut.
When it comes to making choices about your life, what criteria do you use when deciding yes or no?
A: My natural affinities move toward ease and comfort. So when I was younger I almost always took the path of least resistance. This worked out fine for a while, but now that I’m older and have a family and a small business (i.e. people to think about other than myself), I realize that it’s almost always more rewarding to choose the option that seems more difficult and more of a pain. Now I can see my easy-going, slackerish tendencies at work and through personal reflection and conversation with people I trust I can usually suss out the motivations behind my reactions to different options and make clear-eyed decisions from there.
What fears are left for you to conquer?
A: Like a lot of people, I have a sometimes-overwhelming fear of being exposed as a failure and/or a fraud. Perspective is a great path out of this for me – perspective about the relative ease of my life and perspective about the relative duration and scope our lives. I think, my life is a short blessing, why waste any of it on such concerns?
Stay up to date about when a screening of Resistance is coming near you or when it becomes available to view anywhere by visiting the website or Facebook!
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