The Food and Drug Administration in the United States has issued an
order to restrict the use of cephalosporin antibiotics, which are given to some
cattle, swine, chickens and turkeys before slaughter.
Canada's Public Health Agency called for a ban back in June of 2009, but Health Canada has apparently not done anything about that request.
Probably Health Canada was persuaded to wait until the United States acts on the basis that actually using its own research and analysis might hinder trade and leave Canadians at a competitive disadvantage.
Now Canadian farmers will have to comply with the U.S. moves to retain export markets.
All of which underlines the point I have often made: we are wasting money running Canadian agencies, such as registering pesticides, livestock and poultry drugs and medicines, etc. We should simply use the U.S. standards and devote our money to actual research that might prove convincing to the U.S. regulatory agencies?
Under the new U.S. restrictions extra-label drug use of cephalosporins will
only be allowed for use to treat or control, but not to prevent, a disease, and must be used at the labeled dose,
frequency, duration and route of administration approved for that species and
production class.
These new restrictions apply to major species; off-label use is permitted
for minor species.
The ruling significantly revises a 2008 rule by FDA that prohibited all extra-label
uses of cephalosporins and was later withdrawn.
Cephalosporin antibiotics are used to treat pneumonia, skin infections
and meningitis, among other diseases, in humans.
The
final rule was published in the January 2, 2012, Federal Register with a
comment period that closes March 6.
