--- description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. title: Martin Blaser by Louise M. Slaughter: TIME 100 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac16ad2cbd616081/6987eaff35ba6fe652c0adac/dr-martin-blaser-time-100-2015-pioneers.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 15, 2015 # Martin Blaser by Louise M. Slaughter  Dr Martin Blaser at The Manhattan VA Medical Center Dr Martin Blaser at The Manhattan VA Medical CenterJoao Canziani—August As a scientist and author, Dr. Martin Blaser is an incredibly important voice on the consequences of our rampant overuse of antibiotics. Right now, 80% of antibiotics sold in the U.S. are used on mostly healthy animals on factory farms. Over time, this has caused routine bacteria to mutate into untreatable superbugs, putting human lives at risk. Some food companies have responded to public pressure and taken action, but too many in Washington refuse to lift a finger to protect antibiotics, instead bowing to industries that profit from maintaining the status quo. This is why we need people outside the government structure to move the conversation forward. Blaser’s work is a stunning dose of reality in an environment flooded with corporate-agenda-fulfilling pseudoscience. If you care about your health and the future of medicine, read Blaser’s book, _Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues_. _Slaughter is a U.S. Congresswoman and a microbiologist_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/2015-time-100/3822950/martin-blaser-2015-time-100/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/2015-time-100/3822950/martin-blaser-2015-time-100/"},"headline":"Martin Blaser","datePublished":"2015-04-15T15:45:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:30.951Z","description":"Microbiologist on a mission","url":"https://time.com/collections/2015-time-100/3822950/martin-blaser-2015-time-100/","keywords":["TIME 100"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac16ad2cbd616081/6987eaff35ba6fe652c0adac/dr-martin-blaser-time-100-2015-pioneers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac16ad2cbd616081/6987eaff35ba6fe652c0adac/dr-martin-blaser-time-100-2015-pioneers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/2015-time-100/3822950/martin-blaser-2015-time-100/","name":"Martin Blaser"}}]}] ```