Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker, representing New Jersey’s 16th Legislative District (Somerset, Mercer, Middlesex, Hunterdon counties), was initially perplexed.
Why was he was being bugged (as in pestered) about a bug (a germ)? Earlier in the year, people were trying to get his attention about a good bug that has made remarkable progress in fighting a bad bug.
“I am a physicist, not a microbiologist,” said Assemblyman Zwicker, who works as a science educator for the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. He was surprised at all the excitement surrounding a microscopic entity that was something other than an atom, proton, electron, or quark.
As a very fast learner, however, he quickly threw his support 100 percent behind an advocacy effort to designate the Streptomyces griseus as New Jersey’s official state microbe. Streptomyces griseus, used in the making of the antibiotic streptomycin, was discovered in New Jersey at the dawn of the antibiotic era. It has been reported that it has it has saved countless lives of those suffering from tuberculosis and dramatically changed and improved the course of world health.
The New Jersey Assembly Committee on Science Innovation and Technology, which is chaired by Assemblyman Zwicker, gave unanimous approval in late September to a bill, A3650, designating Streptomyces griseus the state microbe.
Streptomyces griseus is a soil-based microorganism that was discovered in New Jersey in 1916 and later celebrated for its groundbreaking use as an antibiotic. Already approved by the New Jersey State Senate, the bill is likely to land on the governor’s desk later this month. In my less than profound political opinion, I see no reason why the governor would refuse to sign the bill – unless he were microbe-phobic.
“Professors around the country – actually from around the world – wrote me to lobby on behalf of the microbe. The Streptomyces griseus inspired more excitement than a tax bill,” said Assemblyman Zwicker. “From my point of view as a science educator, any measure that celebrates New Jersey’s role in science and technology is a worthwhile measure,” he said.
As noted in the language of the bill, Streptomyces griseus drew international headlines in 1943 after a research team from Rutgers University, led by Dr. Selman Waksman with Albert Schatz and Elizabeth Bugie, used the microbe to create streptomycin, the world’s first antibiotic for tuberculosis.
Prior to this discovery, tuberculosis was one of the deadliest diseases in human history; throughout the early 1900s, tuberculosis was the second leading cause of death in the United States.
However, within 10 years of the antibiotic’s release, tuberculosis-related deaths dropped to an all-time low, because of the widespread use of streptomycin. Dr. Waksman was later awarded a Nobel Prize in 1952 for his role in leading the discovery. Although Streptomyces griseus and streptomycin were two of the most consequential discoveries of the twentieth century, few people remember these historical accomplishments or the distinguished New Jerseyans who helped cure the deadliest disease of their age.
Politically, throwing one’s support behind a microbe comes with risks since microbes have an image problem. Most people see microbes as germsresponsible for disease and food poisoning – thus the root cause of my many sleepless nights when caring for kids and grandkids with microbe-induced problems.
I know that microbes also are responsible for cheese and beer (yes, I like beer – and cheese – very much), but I never would have put microbes in the super hero role, until a group of Rutgers University microbilogists took up the cause to give the microbe an image makeover.
If the measure becomes law, New Jersey would be only the second state with an official microbe, after Oregon, whose lawmakers paid trubute to the state’s craft-brewing industry by honoring the microbe behind brewer’s yeast. New Jersey is going the more intellectual route by honoring he state’s history of life-saving pharmaceutical research. Streptomyces griseus would join the Common Meadow Violet, the American Goldfinch and the Clemmys muhlenbergii (thebog turtle)as having the official imprimatur of state government.
But speaking of that bog turtle, the Rutgers scientists were very annoyed at Princeton’s Riverside Elementary School kids, who advocated for the bog turtle to be New Jersey’s first state reptile. The bog turtle leap frogged ahead of the Rutgers microbe advocacy initiative in the battle for state officialdom. Gov. Murphy on June 18, 2018, came to the Riverside Elementary School to sign the legislation designating the state reptitle title to the bog turtle. Riverside School science teacher Mark Eastburn started the bog turtle movement, when he told his students that New Jersey lacked an official state reptile. He suggested the bog turtle, which was declared a federally threatened species in 1997, as an excellent candidate for the title.
Assemblyman Zwicker, who sponsored the bog turtle/state reptile legislation (A1530), said the bill “is an important way to raise awareness about the species and its plight, and represents a commitment by our state to protect it.”
Rutgers scientists, however, were undaunted by the bog turtle’s success and continued to wage their vigorous microbe campaign with Assemblyman Zwicker and other legislators. They argued that the bacterium not only has saved millions of lives but also has had a tremendous economic benefit to the state – always a wiinning selling point to the state’s elected officials. Thousands of new pharma and research jobs have come to New Jersey, thanks to the microbe.
Assemblyman Zwicker also noted the bi-partisan appeal of these science education initiatives. Maybe this little microbe along with a slow and gentle push from a bog turtle might be key to curing our unhealthy and divisive political environment.