If dairy is on the table (along with other foodstuffs), the NAFTA players need a level playing field. That means no drugs at source, e.g., drug free cattle.
Canadians (and some Americans) like to chastise US farmers for the drugs found in US cows. “The (Canadian) public milk supply is now in danger of being mixed with and contaminated by American milk from cows injected with the genetically engineered recombinant bovine growth hormone rBGH (a carcinogen).”
“… we allow (US) dairy corporations to give hormones to cattle that cause them to produce more milk.”
http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/2017/05/01/no-to-mixing-american-and-canadian-milk
This drug is banned in Canada and a host of other countries.
However, Canadians (and Americans) are apparently not too bent out of shape that another growth promoting drug—ractopamine is found in beef, pork and poultry. It’s used to make animals gain weight without increasing the amount of food they eat.
http://fortune.com/2015/02/13/beef-cattle-growth-drug-safety-merck/
The pork part of the equation is changing through market pressure.
“That’s (China’s growing demand for pork) a bonanza for Canadian farmers, who have almost completely removed the growth drug ractopamine from their pigs’ diet – largely because it is banned in China (the 160th country to do so), which consumes half the world’s pork.”
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/canada-beats-us-in-pork-sales-to-china-feet-elbows-and-all/article35200728/
Health Canada and the FDA brought in restrictions in December ’16 to make farmers use of antibiotics for disease prevention not growth promotion. As the link below states, farmers now need a prescription for “disease prevention.” However, they can circumvent the need for a script by importing the drug from a veterinarian or medical professional. This loophole means the new laws may actually increase the use of antibiotics or similar drugs.
Meat in the Age of Antibiotic Resistance
If a market speaks loudly and in enough numbers, suppliers and governments listen, sometimes. Canadians and Americans should let their local supermarket and representatives know that drug-laden foodstuffs will be left on the shelf.
