home → articles → Columnists | Email to a Friend

Cattleman’s Capitol Concerns

published: March 5th 2010
source: NCBA

Congressional Members, Livestock Groups Hold Educational Briefings on Antibiotics
    On Tuesday, livestock and poultry groups hosted educational briefings on Capitol Hill to share the facts about the importance of tools like antibiotics in raising healthy food animals. The informational sessions were co-hosted by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) through beef checkoff funding, the National Chicken Council, National Pork Producers Council, National Milk Producers Federation, National Turkey Federation, American Meat Institute and National Meat Association.
    The briefings were held in cooperation with U.S. Reps. David Scott (D-GA), Randy Neugebauer (R-TX), Zack Space (D-OH) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) and by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA). Top livestock and poultry health experts from across the country presented information to attendees.
    "Prompt and judicious use of efficacious antibiotics is critical for the successful treatment and, at times, control of specific bacterial diseases in cattle. Certain FDA-approved antibiotics also enable us to significantly improve the efficiency of beef production," said Dr. Guy Loneragan, an epidemiologist and associate professor at West Texas A&M University, and presenter at today's briefings. "Maintaining access to FDA-approved safe and effective technologies, including animal health products, helps ensure both the health and resource efficiency of U.S. herds and flocks."
    In addition to stringent federal regulations, responsible-use programs have been developed specific to feed, livestock and poultry organizations to give feed companies and producers specific guidelines and assistance on the safe and proper use of antibiotics in health management systems.
    "We use antibiotics judiciously and responsibly to protect the health of our herds and to produce safe pork," said Craig Rowles, DVM. "We know that a ban on antibiotics, like the one in Denmark, will have adverse affects on our pigs, will raise the cost of production and will not provide a benefit to public health."
    Scientific evidence that shows the use of antibiotics on farms contributes significantly to an increase in antibiotic resistance in humans. In fact, a growing body of evidence shows just the opposite; namely, the responsible, professional use of these products keeps animals healthy and enhances animal welfare while not contributing to resistance.
    "Taking FDA-ap-proved animal drugs off the market would leave farmers and veterinarians with very limited options for preventing and controlling disease in livestock and poultry, which would have serious repercussions for animal health and preventing foodborne disease, with the strong likelihood that there would be no improvement in human health," said Dr. Timothy Cummings, clinical poultry professor for the Depart-ment of Pathobiology and Population Medicine at Mississippi State Univer-sity. "It's absolutely vital that any decisions about the care of animals and the safety of our food be based on sound science rather than unsubstantiated concerns."
    According to Dr. Leon Weaver, a veterinarian and dairy farmer from Montpelier, Ohio: "The U.S. dairy industry conducts more than 3.3 million tests each year on all milk entering dairy plants to ensure that antibiotics are kept out of the milk supply. According to the most recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) data, less than one tanker in 3,800 tests positive for any animal drug residues, including antibiotics. In those rare cases, any milk that tests positive is disposed of immediately and does not get into the food supply."
NCBA Expresses Concerns about Proposed Changes to CME Live-Cattle Futures Contract
    During the annual Cattle Industry Conven-tion held last month in San Antonio, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group director of commodity research & product development provided an overview of proposed changes to the CME's live-cattle futures contract for 2011.
    In a letter dated today to the CME, NCBA expressed support for the proposal to expand carcass-graded delivery capacity for Worthing, SD. However, NCBA expressed concerns with the CME's proposals to lower the maximum live-delivery weight (from the current 1550 pounds to a proposed 1500 pound threshold) and to apply a "freight allowance" to the Worthing delivery point. NCBA is asking the CME to delay listing the October 2011 contract until the current contract expires, in order to allow additional time to collect data on the impacts of these proposed changes.
    NCBA looks forward to continuing to work closely with the CME on improvements to the live- cattle and feeder-cattle futures contracts, which are critical risk-management tools for all segments of the beef industry.
Mexican Tariffs Continue to Put American Jobs at Risk
    Members of Congress are continuing to call on the Administration to put pressure on Mexico to remove damaging tariffs on U.S. agriculture and manufacturing goods.
    The tariffs were imposed by Mexico after the U.S. Congress terminated funding for the U.S.-Mexico cross-border trucking pilot program in the FY2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act. Although Congress has since addressed the issue by removing the prohibition within the FY2010 Consolidated Appropria-tions Bill, the Administra-tion has yet to make progress on developing a plan to remove the burdensome tariffs--which continue to put American jobs at risk.
    A group of roughly 40 Members of Congress, led by Reps. Dennis Cardoza (D-CA) and Rick Larsen (D-WA), are circulating a Dear Colleague letter urging their House colleagues to sign on to a letter to the Secretary of Transportation and U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) expressing concern about this issue.  NCBA encourages Members of Congress to sign on to the letter. Mexico is one of our top trading partners, and the removal of these retaliatory tariffs is vital to preserving our domestic industry and thwarting additional economic disaster.
SLS