Thank for the invitation to come here today.
I couldn't agree more with John's introductory comments and those of the previous speakers that producing safe and nutritious food is the most important thing that Canada's cattle producers do.
It was pointed out earlier, but I'll repeat it: livestock producers and cattle producers use antimicrobial products very strategically.
Ionophores are the main antimicrobial that the beef industry uses. Ionophores are not used in human medicine at all. As a result of that, eliminating the use of ionophores in beef production would not halt or slow the development of antimicrobial resistance and would not contribute to our goal of producing safe and nutritious food.
With this in mind, the CCA developed the verified beef production program to uphold consumer confidence in Canadian beef. This is a HACCP-based on-farm food safety program, and it has received technical approval from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
VBP promotes prudent use of veterinary products so that the right product is used to treat the right disease or condition at the right dose, following the right administration route, following the right course of treatment and the correct withdrawal times, and ensuring that leftover product, containers, and what not are disposed of properly.
Finally, one of the most important steps is documenting that all of these steps were actually followed for every animal that was treated. Following label or veterinary instructions regarding the use of these antimicrobials is an important safeguard against the development of antimicrobial resistance.
Preventing antimicrobial resistance is also important to Canada's cattle producers, simply because we want to make sure that these antimicrobials continue to be effective. When antimicrobial resistance develops, the product isn't effective any more. Losing the effectiveness of those tools is something we can't afford to have happen.
Producers use these antimicrobials in a targeted manner because they're costly and also because they need these products to be effective. Cattle feeders use sophisticated and quite often computerized animal health management software systems under the direction of, or in conjunction with, specialized veterinarians.
The dosing systems that are used are accurate to the millimetre and dosages are based on individual animal weight, so the individual animal is getting the right dose of antimicrobial that it needs to address the situation.