Crackdown on misuse of oxytocin will go a long way in protecting the cow and the economy
This has to go down as one of the most practical moves to protect the cow and the economy around it. The Government has decided to barcode the indigenously manufactured drug oxytocin, which has been misused by dairy farmers for extracting more milk from cattle, their over-exploitation resulting in a decline in bovine reproductive health as well as the quality of the milk produced. This essentially means that regulatory authorities can track the movement of the drug from manufacturer to the consumer and ensure a strict monitoring of the supply chain for legitimate use. This, of course, is the first filter. The Government is mulling an after sales watch on the movement of the drug too, making sure that the consumer is indeed using it as a relief for post-natal relief of women and not diverting it second-hand to farmers in rural or peri-urban areas. Which is why the Drug Technical Advisory Board is planning to ultimately limit its sale to registered hospitals and clinics. That too is not enough. It should be sold on the basis of a prescription that is dated and quantified. The authorities need to be even more stringent with authorised veterinarians prescribing them for clinical purposes. A blanket measure doesn’t work as earlier curbs on monitoring have been almost routinely violated with the drug changing hands and bleeding out while transiting the logistical chain.
Oxytocin, widely known as the cuddle hormone for inducing lactation, has been known to increase milk production in a mammal by three per cent, a fact that the dairy owner has latched on to, injecting his cattle with it and increasing the volume of supplies. The over-dosage in cows has already resulted in compromising their overall reproductive health, their calf-bearing years shortened noticeably. Meanwhile, the dissemination of oxytocin-laced milk for consumption has silently taken its toll on children’s health, inducing early puberty, and foetal damage, hormonal imbalance and nausea among adults. Even regular farmers use oxytocin shots to plump up the freshness and size of vegetables and fruits. Given the wide scare about antibiotic-ingesting chickens triggering health deficiencies in the consumer, the Government has stepped in clearly to avoid maligning or compromising the breakfast staple of a healthy glass of milk. While regulatory mechanisms are welcome, what is needed is multi-level monitoring and more importantly awareness programmes among livestock players of the ill-effects of continued drug use and their resultant damage on bovine health as well as the food and wellness economy dependent on it. This is real, social vigilance that the gau rakshaks must pride themselves in, maintaining cow health, strengthening the native breed and ensuring healthy dairy products rather than chasing self-perceived threats of extinction. Having said that, just an avid a watch has to be maintained on the abuse among humans as unscrupulous practitioners and quacks use the drug randomly in child trafficking, as a growth booster and an accelerator of puberty.