Finding traces of pollution in a supposedly pristine mountain
brook is sadly no longer surprising. But when the contaminants
are genes for antibiotic resistance, the implications should
still raise concern. With resistance to antibiotics growing at
an alarming pace among pathogenic bacteria, humans must become
more aggressive. In keeping with the "ounce of prevention"
principle, early intervention in the processes that foster
resistance would be a very good start. A news story beginning on
page 22 describes work by Colorado scientists who make a case
for monitoring and mitigating the dangerous DNA as one would any
other environmental pollutant. The researchers sampled the
variety and concentrations of resistance DNA in and near
Colorado's Cache la Poudre River. They found the genes inside
living microbes and even as free-floating DNA. Predictably, the
intensity of the problem increased nearer to human and
agricultural waste sources, peaking in the bovine cesspools
known as dairy lagoons. One need only return