Governments must address antibiotic use in farming: Ontario
Medical Association TORONTO — The Ontario Medical Association
wants the federal and provincial governments to crack down on
antibiotic use in farming. The organization is issuing a call to
arms on the problem of antibiotic resistance, warning the world
is in danger of losing these drugs because of misuse. Farmers
currently feed antibiotics to healthy animals both to prevent
them from becoming ill and to accelerate growth. Many more
tonnes of the drugs are used in agricultural operations than in
human medicine and experts say the practice is fuelling
development of resistance. OMA President Dr. Doug Weir says
Canada has been slower off the mark to act to protect
antibiotics than countries in Europe and the United States. For
instance, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has barred the
disease prevention use of a class of antibiotics called
cephalosporins in animal production, but the practice is not
banned in Canada. Weir says Canadians do not appea