The federal bureaucrats are at it again. This time the FDA has capriciously imposed a ban on OTC (over the counter) medications that farmers, ranchers, and even pet owners use for their livestock and pets.

Beginning on June 11, 2023, over-the-counter livestock antibiotics will require veterinary oversight due to a new FDA rule.

The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry said this new federal rule includes animals intended for food production and pets, like dogs and cats.

Here’s additional detail on this arbitrary new rule. 

The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry wants to make livestock owners aware of an important date coming up. Starting on June 11, 2023, over-the-counter (OTC) livestock antibiotics will require veterinary oversight as a result of a new federal rule from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This includes both animals intended for food production and those that do not enter the food supply, such as dogs, cats, backyard poultry, pet rabbits, and pot-bellied pigs.

The new federal rule follows the FDA’s recommendation that manufacturers of medically important antimicrobial drugs that were previously available OTC and approved for use in animals (both companion and food-producing, regardless of delivery mechanism) be brought under veterinary oversight or prescription status. In 2017, OTC antibiotics used in animal feed were moved to Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD), allowing closer veterinarian oversight of antimicrobial use in animal feeds. All OTC antibiotics placed in the drinking water were moved to prescription status at the same time. This new federal rule concerns the few antibiotics that remained available OTC in the form of injectables, intramammary preparations, and oral boluses.

By the June 11 deadline, the labels of all OTC antibiotics for livestock use will be required to read: “Caution: Federal law restricts this drug to use by or on the order of a licensed veterinarian,” and the purchaser must have a veterinarian prescription to buy it.

There are at least three major problems with this mandate. 

First, farmers and ranchers have long kept vet cabinets and refrigerators stocked with medication. We did. Why? Because when a calf, cow, lamb, or pig needed immediate attention, and it was something the owner could handle with an OTC med, the animal was doctored immediately. Furthermore, vets weren’t always available as it was inevitable that when a vet was needed, he or she was on the other side of the county. So, farmers and ranchers keep the basics on hand. 

Also, in cases of major weather events that shut down roads a week or more – as was the situation THIS winter in Wyoming; who is available to doctor the livestock? Not a veterinarian! Just the rancher or farmer. I cannot tell you how many times I helped doctor cows and calves with meds to deal with basic issues. But now a prescription is needed to get those meds and have them on hand? Or does the rule only allow for the prescription to be filled at the time of need? 

Which is another huge problem because there’s a small window to getting meds on board before the situation gets worse for the animal, and when the vet is 80 miles away on the opposite side of the county and unreachable by cell… 

This new rule puts the farmer and rancher at a disadvantage. The veterinarian is also now burdened with new regulations, more paperwork, and will be overloaded in some or many cases by being constantly on call to write prescriptions for these meds. All while there is a significant veterinarian shortage brewing across the country.

This is supposedly due to the concern that farmers and ranchers are just willy nilly injecting livestock with antibiotics on a constant basis, which then causes harm to humans who consume those products. The asinine inference that A. Livestock producers are hoarding medicines, B. That they are constantly dosing the livestock wrong, and C. Farmers and Ranchers will need to finally build a good relationship with a veterinarian is quite insulting IMO. 

If you are a farmer or rancher who isn’t on a first-name basis with your local veterinarian, you are doing it wrong. Furthermore, to imply that the reason for this capricious mandate is because every livestock producer is careless with OTC meds and thus is willfully harming our food supply is a slap in the face to the thousands of farmers and ranchers in this country, and will drive up prices. 

A third concern and red flag is the rule itself. 

I mean no slight to you by my reply, but I don’t recall voting on this recently. Was this done at the state level? Too many rules are implemented by agencies these days.

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) May 23, 2023

That’s correct. There was no legislation. This was a rule imposed by a federal agency without any Congressional oversight. NONE.

https://twitter.com/botticellicream/status/1654566433693597697

Or Congress REFUSES to control. 

The Supreme Court has slapped down the EPA twice in this last year for issuing mandates and rules that impose undue burdens on Americans. Agencies such as the FDA (who botched the baby formula issue and vaccine pause) should take note and step WAY back into their lanes instead of imposing arbitrary rules. Congress must also step up and put the kibosh on arbitrary rule-making without Congressional approval.

Feature Photo Credit: Angus beef cattle in pasture via iStock, cropped and modified