Louise Slaughter, a Democrat from New York State, is taking
a fourth stab at legislation to ban farmers from using antibiotics as growth
promotants.
This time she has added Cephalosporins so the ban would
apply to eight classes of antibiotics.
Her bill is supported by 450 organizations, including public
health organizations, scientists, the World Health Organization, American
Medical Association and the National Academy of Sciences.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Richard Raymond argued
the data used In Slaughter’s campaign was faulty. He used to be undersecretary
at the agriculture department.
Canadians would be pressured to follow if the U.S.
politicians approve Slaughter’s legislation because so much production here
goes to U.S. markets and because the Canadian public and politicians would
likely agree with the American move.
