Some authors have extended this concept and propose that
antibiotic resistance genes per se may be viewed as environmental
pollutants if anthropogenic emission and manipulations raise their
prevalence in affected ecosystems above naturally occurring background
levels leading to an increased likelihood for adverse effects
on human, animal or environmental health (Li et al., 2015;
Martinez, 2009; Martínez, 2012; Martinez and Olivares, 2012;
Pruden and Arabi, 2012; Pruden et al., 2006; Zhu et al., 2013).