Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I won't say too much, but I will draw the attention of the committee to the 2002 Health Canada report called Uses of Antimicrobials in Food Animals in Canada: Impact on Resistance and Human Health. This was an absolutely outstanding report, which involved considerable work and effort from many people across the country. It made 38 recommendations, including the establishment of CCARs, Canadian Committee on Antimicrobial Resistance. Most of the recommendations have not been acted on. These recommendations included key things like making antibiotics veterinary prescription only, getting rid of own-use and active pharmaceutical ingredient importation issues, prohibiting extra-label use of antibiotics for certain important public health issues, and so on.
I certainly think it would be of great interest to look again at those recommendations, because I think we can improve how we use antibiotics in animals to try to establish national priorities and put one person in charge of the issue of antibiotic resistance in animals and its relationship to humans, as well as antibiotic resistance in human pathogens generally.
Currently, I think nobody in the federal government is in charge, just the resistant bacteria.
Thank you.