Tuesday, April 15, 2014

CAHI to phase out antibiotics for growth

As expected, the drug companies marketing antibiotics to farmers are going to follow the United States lead and ban the sale of their products for use as growth promotants in the livestock and poultry industries.

The Canadian response was announced by the industry’s association, the Canadian Animal Health Institute.

The United States Department of Agriculture announced earlier this month that the drug companies have agreed to phase out growth-promoting use of antiobiotics over the next three years. The Canadian Animal Health Institute says the same timelines will apply in Canada.

The Canadian reaction was anticipated because it’s important to maintain markets across the United States.


The ban has been prompted by decades-long warnings that the growth-promoting use of relatively low levels of antibiotics increases the likelihood that antibiotic-resistant bacteria will multiply, get into people and render antibiotics useless to treat infections and bacterial diseases.