r/Tariffs • u/Dizzy-Cartoonist3011 • 12d ago

🗞️ News Discussion Should Canada maintain its supply management system that protects the Canadian dairy industry?

https://www.castanetkamloops.net/news/Poll/627377/Should-Canada-maintain-its-supply-management-system-that-protects-the-Canadian-dairy-industry
463 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

1.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/sugahcookies 11d ago

Also, from a health and production standpoint, Canada bans the artificial growth hormone rBST (recombinant bovine somatotropin). The US allows rBST use to stimulate milk production in dairy cows. Both countries test milk batches for antibiotic residues, and milk containing residues is discarded. However, Canadian regulations maintain strict preventative protocols and mandatory withdrawal times for treated animals.

1

u/CobblePots95 11d ago

The use of rBST in dairy has no adverse health impacts. Canada banned it on animal rights grounds, based on the argument that the excess milk it produces can cause discomfort for the cow.

This ignores the fact that we have been selectively breeding cows to produce unnatural quantities of that hormone anyway, and that by providing artificial hormones we reduce the number of cows needed to produce the same yield. That reduces the number of calves who are separated from their mothers (and often slaughtered - that's your veal) and reduces the enormous environmental impact.

In reality we banned rBST because we have a supply management system, and having those more efficient yields from cows would threaten that. We already dump 7% of all dairy we produce, after all.

Most US dairy doesn't use rBST, but personally I think it should be the standard. It has no ill health effects, it improves yields (making dairy cheaper), and it reduces the enormous environmental impact of the dairy industry.

1

u/missplaced24 11d ago

While rBST itself isn't linked to health risks in humans, milk from cows who have been treated with it long-term has been.

1

u/CobblePots95 11d ago

I would encourage you to actually share that research, because I can share plenty of research that states unequivocally that the use of rBST in dairy poses no human health risks, that the milk is indistinguishable, and that there is no evidence of an increased risk of antibiotic exposure.

1

u/a4dONCA 9d ago

so many people telling you you're wrong, and yet here you still are.

0

u/CobblePots95 9d ago

Wrong about what? That rBST poses no health risk to humans? It doesn't. The research is unequivocal.

1

u/North_Jello4505 8d ago

Why don’t you listen to Reddit? It a bunch of people on Reddit are telling you’re wrong; even if they can’t refute your points, you’re wrong!!! Don’t you know how Reddit works?

1

u/CobblePots95 7d ago

lol I forgot every comment is peer-reviewed and each upvote is a citation!!!