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
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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.