Lawmakers celebrate Illinois' role in distribution of penicillin

SPRINGFIELD - Lawmakers gathered Tuesday at the University of Illinois Springfield to designate a new state microbe and add agriculture sciences to the list of courses that fulfill admissions requirements at state universities.

Penicillium rubens NRRL 1951, which yields the antibiotic penicillin, was designated as the official state microbe in House Bill 1879, which Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed Tuesday.

While the first mold spore that produces penicillin was discovered in Europe in 1928, the National Center for Agriculture Utilization in Peoria, known as the Ag Lab, was the site of the penicillium rubens discovery in the 1940s which allowed for speedier production of the antibiotic used to treat several infections.

Peoria Democratic Sen. Dave Koehler, who sponsored the bill in the Senate, noted penicillin's contribution to halting bacterial infections such as gangrene in soldiers wounded in World War II.

"There was no way to treat it," Koehler said while holding up a specimen of the mold discovered in Peoria. "Penicillin stopped that."

"Not only did the mass production of penicillin in Peoria change the world by helping us win World War II and saving countless lives across the globe, but it also provided an important recipe that I think we should follow here in Illinois today," House sponsor Rep. Ryan Spain, a Peoria Republican, said. "Currently, as many investments in our country for research and development have migrated to the East and West Coast, this recognition today in this bill signing is a reminder that there is a place for discovery and implementation here in Illinois."