FDA Bans Farmers from Caring for Their Own Animals Without Costly Vet Approval.
For the last, oh, I don’t know… forever… ranchers and farmers large and small have taken care of their livestock with antibiotics and antimicrobials that were available at farm stores. These medicines treat common illnesses and infections that people who own large animals and livestock are very familiar with and qualified to treat. They have been trusted to do so for as long as these medicines have been available. The first chicken antibiotics were introduced in 1948. Since then, there has been no call nor reason to regulate these items. Many farmers and ranchers tend to many of their animals’ veterinary needs, which is a part of being a responsible animal handler who needs to keep costs down.
It would be ridiculous to take a chicken to the vet. When chickens are sick, you consult with other chicken owners and go buy the needed items to make them well again. It was a good system.
But NOW, the unelected, unaccountable, faceless, nameless, power-hungry monarchs at the FDA have decided that none of our farmers, ranchers, or hobbyists will be allowed to have those medicines anymore without visiting the vet for a prescription. This will cost the farmers tens of thousands of dollars a year in added vet bills, which they will then pass onto the consumer, forcing prices even higher during a time of record inflation.
There was no debate in Congress, no federal law passed, no chance for a town hall or public debate, no reading of a bill, no commercials warning the public so they could stop this encroachment on liberty and sanity. We have been informed by federal decree that this is now our new reality.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released new antibiotic guidance pertaining to animal drugs containing medically-important antimicrobials for use in companion and food production animals that are currently approved for over-the-counter (OTC) marketing.
Under the guidance, FDA stated several antibiotics familiar to ranchers and other livestock owners will no longer be available OTC.
The intent of the new antibiotic guidance is to ensure animal drugs that contain antimicrobials important for humans are not being overused or used incorrectly, said Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) Associate Director of Commodity and Regulatory Activities Tracy Tomascik.
“There are many antibiotics used in both human and animal medicine, and there’s concern that overuse or misuse of those medicines can contribute to antimicrobial resistance,” he said. “FDA has been updating its antimicrobial medication guidelines for several years now. This is the latest update in a string of changes to the way ranchers can access medication for livestock use.”
This starts in June of this year. Some have suggested that this is a move to keep people from buying Ivermectin, which has been shown in studies to improve COVID symptoms. It doesn’t matter why they did it; the bigger problem is that no federal agency should be able to institute any sweeping federal mandate without input from the people it affects. This is tyranny.
But perhaps worse than this shocking display of federal f*ckery through the executive branch exercising immense power it should not have is the fact that our representatives are shocked and confused at how this happened. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) replied to a tweet discussing this new rule claiming ignorance. “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.”
What the FDA has done by instituting this new rule is an attack on liberty itself. It should cause people to flood the streets in protest of a government that is so big it is now openly hostile to the people it claims to serve. This is not representative government. America is broken and I’m not sure anyone in any position of power is serious about stopping it.
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