California’s new livestock antibiotic bill is now law, and it’s the toughest in the U.S. Sabrina Hill has more.
California now has the strictest livestock antibiotics law in the nation. Governor Jerry Brown said the over use of antibiotics is “an urgent and public health problem” as he signed SB 27 into law. The new law prohibits the administration of antimicrobial drugs to livestock unless those medicines are ordered by a licensed veterinarian. It also bans the use of antibiotics solely for weight gain or improving feed efficiency.
The bill was written by Senator Jerry Hill of San Mateo. Supporters say the livestock antibiotics are overused in preventive form.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the California Veterinary Medical Association expressed concern over the bill, because now veterinarians might not be able to prescribe the drugs as a preventative to treat some diseases.
The livestock antibiotic law will affect all livestock producers, including California dairies. Dairy is California’s leading agricultural commodity, bringing in $9.4 billion to the state economy in 2014.
The new law goes into effective Jan. 1, 2018.