The Daily Journal Online - Smith Intros Bill to Repeal Veterinary Feed Rule

News Article

By Kevin Jenkins

U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-8th District, earlier this week introduced H.R. 5140, also known as the Veterinary Feed Directive Repeal Act. The legislation would repeal the VFD regulation set to go into effect Jan. 1, 2017.

The new regulation would require prescriptions for many over-the-counter antibiotic medications administered to livestock both through feed and water.

According to Smith, the additional time required to contact a veterinarian and obtain antibiotics "could be critical" in situations where bacteria quickly travels from animal to animal and time is of the essence.

"... a veterinarian attempting to act quickly on behalf of a farmer could find themselves in violation if they don't have an established relationship already in place between the farmer and feed supplier," Smith said. "The regulation was created without congressional oversight and would dramatically change the process of receiving and administering antibiotics to livestock as well as the relationship between veterinarians, feed suppliers, and farmers."

Smith recalled that the VFD was something he had heard about while speaking with 8th District livestock owners.

"It was a big topic during my recent 30-county district travel period," he said. "As a cattle farmer myself, I understand how devastating these regulations could be to family farmers, which is why it must be repealed."

Smith described the VFD as "another unfortunate example of Washington, DC bureaucrats creating a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

"But in this case the burden they are creating could propagate a real crisis in our food supply and add an estimated 130,000 hours of paperwork to farmers," he said.

Smith added that he believes healthy food starts with healthy cattle.

"We judiciously use antibiotics to treat illness on the rare occasion that it occurs," said Butch Meier, a cattle producer from Jackson and president-elect of the Missouri Cattlemen's Association. "It is nothing more than government bureaucracy being shoved down the throats of this country's food producers."

The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

H.R. 5140 is one in a series of legislation that Smith has proposed along with the SCRUB Act and IRS OWES Act aimed at rolling back current federal regulations. Both the SCRUB Act and IRS OWES Act have passed the U.S. House.

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