Page 17

The Manitoba Co-operator | July 12, 2012 3
SUMMER CROPS PALETTE
The beautiful colours of summer — green, yellow and blue. This picture is of the yellow canola fields the green grass and all looking towards Whitewater Lake,
east of Deloraine Man. taken on July 8, 2012. PHOTO: SHARLENE BENNIE
American antibiotic
debate worries Canada
The federal government is raising concerns over antibiotic misuse
By Alex Binkley
CO-OPERATOR CONTRIBUTOR / OTTAWA
The federal government has
finally gone public about its
efforts to promote sensible
use of antibiotics in livestock and
humans to prevent the emergence
of drug-resistant superbugs.
Until Brian Evans, Canada’s
chief food safety officer and chief
veterinarian, issued a statement in
early July (See Page 5), it took a lot
of digging through web pages and
statements to get a picture of what
was happening in Canada. Ottawa
and the provinces have been discussing
the topic for some time.
South of the border, the FDA is
under attack by consumer groups
and the courts for not cracking
down on the use of antibiotics in
livestock production.
Canada has to be worried that
the U.S. will move to tougher
restrictions on antibiotic use in
livestock production that would
impact meat imports from countries
that don’t adopt similar
rules.
In his statement, Evans says
resistance to antibiotics is a problem
in both livestock production
and human medicine, noting
international organizations
are trying to raise awareness. In
Canada, the provinces need to
pay attention to how medicines
approved by Health Canada are
used, he said.
“By recognizing that there are
risks as well as benefits associated
with antimicrobials and engaging
in an informative and frank dialogue
with all concerned, we can
ensure that these valuable tools
for health professionals are used
prudently in order to preserve
their efficacy for treating both animals
and people.”
The misuse of antibiotics “in
both human and animal health
contributes to the development of
“…The misuse of antibiotics “in both human and
animal health contributes to the development of
resistant bacteria, thereby posing a risk to people
and animals.”
BRIAN EVANS
resistant bacteria, thereby posing
a risk to people and animals,” he
points out.
The World Organisation for
Animal Health has declared the
fight against antimicrobial resistance
as a priority and is advocating
for good veterinary control
of the registration, import,
distribution and on-farm use of
antimicrobials. The World Health
Organization has warned about
the emergence and spread of
drug-resistant pathogens. The
development “is a natural process
that eventually happens with
every drug.”
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Evans notes that WHO is concerned
overuse of medicines in
treating humans is contributing
to drug resistance. Of equal concern
is the slow pace of development
of new medicines.
Health Canada has determined
which veterinary medicines
are most important to
humans and is warning against
extra label use of the key ones.
The CFIA also monitors drug
residues in food and verifies
that medicated livestock feeds
meet federal standards. Over the
years it has rarely found detectable
levels of antibiotic residues
and in almost ever case, the few
it has found have been within
safety limits.
Evans notes that the provinces
control the prescription of
drugs and they should encourage
veterinary and medical regulatory
bodies to promote judicious
use of antibiotics.
According to the WHO, in
human medicine, drugs are
sometimes dispensed too readily,
“just to be on the safe side,”
often in response to patient
demand. In other cases, patients
do not complete the full course
of treatment. In some countries,
substandard products are sold
and individual pills are available
over the counter.
On the animal side, antimicrobials
are routinely used in
livestock feed for growth promotion
and to prevent infections
in food-producing animals.
Some drugs can be purchased
without a veterinary
prescription, or used outside
the approved levels with a veterinary
prescription.
Linear Grain to
run an elevator at
Arborfield, Sask.
The facility has been used to ship
producer cars, whose fate is unclear when
the CWB loses its monopoly
By Allan Dawson
CO-OPERATOR STAFF
Carman-based Linear
Grain is expanding its
grain-buying operations
in tandem with the
new open market for wheat,
durum and barley.
Starting Aug. 1 Linear Grain
will lease an elevator owned
by Aborfield Grain Producers
Ltd., currently used to load
producer cars, and turn it into
a licensed primary elevator,
Ryan McKnight, Linear Grain’s
grain merchandising manager,
said in an interview.
Under the Canada Grain
Act licensed primary elevators
cannot load producer cars.
However, producer cars will
continue to be loaded trackside
by auger adjacent to the
elevator
“We’d absolutely look at
doing this with other producer
car groups if there was
any interest there,” McKnight
said.
Most producer cars have
been shipped to the Canadian
Wheat Board, but their future
is less certain after the end of
the monopoly Aug. 1.
With this new arrangement
with Linear Grain, farmers
near Arborfield in northwest
Saskatchewan can sell to their
local elevator, a 4,500-tonne
wooden facility once owned
by United Grain Growers.
Farmers will have more
choices and locally owned
shortline, Thunder Rail, will
benefit as well, McKnight
said.
“Shortlines are quite a bit
more flexible than the major
rail lines are,” he said. “We like
that part about it.”
Farmers can save $800 to
$1,200 a car shipping producer
cars by avoiding elevator
fees. However, elevators
can sometimes offer better
grades and higher prices
through blending. Farmers
also get paid faster delivering
to an elevator.
Linear is looking to hire
two grain buyers to staff the
Aborfield elevator, McKnight
said.
The Aborfield elevator will
purchase wheat, oats, canola
barley (malting and feed) peas
and flax, he said.
It will also be an agent for
the Canadian Wheat Board,
handling pooled grains on its
behalf.
Farmers in the Carman area
haven’t expressed much interest
in using the CWB’s pools,
but farmers around Aborfield
indicate they’ll commit 20 to
30 per cent of their wheat to
the pool, McKnight said.
“This is a couple of small
guys working together,” he
said “We’re going to try and
make this little elevator run
and keep the railroad going.
I have confidence that it will
be a successful deal and all
people involved will be better
served.”
allan@fbcpublishing.com