Evidence of meeting #131 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was veterinarians.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
Mr. Chair, I just want to say thank you to Mr. Lee and Mr. Ceelen. It's been very interesting for me.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
Thank you, Mr. Doherty.
If the committee will allow me, I have a short question.
To clarify, when you're talking about antimicrobials in food or meat, what's the worry? Is it more that we are building superbugs, or is it that people are concerned about having that in their meal? I know that the poultry farmers would put it in right from the get-go, and they'd get faster....
Could you maybe touch on that?
Chair, National Issues Committee, Canadian Veterinary Medical Association
The issue is clearly one of antimicrobial resistance. We are already familiar with superbugs and people who become ill with conditions that would normally have been very responsive to antibiotic treatment and are not anymore.
Based on the research worldwide that's been done, they estimate that more people will die from superbugs. If we do nothing globally with respect to our prudent antimicrobial use, there are going to be more people dying from that than die from automobile accidents and cancer in the world by 2050.
It's not an insignificant issue, and it's all about superbugs.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
Thank you, Dr. Ceelen and Mr. Lee, for taking the time to be with us this morning. It was very interesting. It was the opening of our study, and I'm sure we will hear a lot more on it.
We will break and then come back for our business session.
[Proceedings continue in camera]