Keep the Conversation Going

Keep the Conversation Going

For the past week, I’ve been reporting on the Seattle City Council’s decision to vote on a resolution banning the use of sub-therapeutic antibiotics in animal agriculture production. The full council did vote to pass the resolution which will be forwarded to Congressional representatives asking them to pass bills in both the U.S. House and Senate.?Several members of Washington’s livestock industry participated in and attended both the committee hearing last week and the full city council meeting earlier this week asking for more in-depth conversation about this issue with more stakeholders at the table.?Washington State Dairy Federation Executive Director Jay Gordon says it is important for producers to continue this conversation.?Gordon: “What can producers do? Producers can continue to help explain: why, when, where and how they use antibiotics to care for their livestock. Because I think what this highlighted was the gulf between folks in Seattle and rural folks that need to not only be cognitive of what they are doing is protective of human health but animal health.” ?He also stressed that the issue of antibiotic resistance bacteria is critical.?Gordon: “It is an important really important issue. Our hospitals are trying to deal with it. Animal agriculture is trying to deal with it. I guess that this the piece — behind all of this rhetoric — that is the aha. This isn't an issue that is not important to animal issue — we need our antibiotics to work for our animals. We also need antibiotics to work for our friends, family, relatives and our loved ones.”

 

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