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Black Market Medicine...Is It Really a Deal?

With the current cost squeeze, sometimes a "deal" on pharmaceuticals may sound like a good thing. However, the selling of medicines for treating livestock is regulated in Ontario. Only a veterinarian, pharmacist or licensed livestock medicine vendor may sell products to livestock owners. If you are purchasing medicines from someone other than a vet or pharmacist, check to see if they hold a Livestock Medicine licence. Getting a "deal" out of the back of a truck may seem attractive based on the price of the product but consider the total cost.

Think About The Real Cost

All livestock medicines sold in Canada should have a DIN or Drug Identification Number on the label. The DIN is your assurance of Canadian government approval of the use of this product under the conditions for use, stated on the label. The product has passed the test to be used in Canada, in Canadian conditions and has all the necessary Cautions and Warnings on the label. Using a medicine without a DIN on the label, sold by someone not licensed to sell over-the-counter livestock medicines in Ontario, means you put your business, your animals and your industry at risk. If the product fails to work or causes a residue problem you are on your own, as it's doubtful the manufacturer will stand behind their product. When you risk the high quality standards set by your industry you risk losing the markets your industry works so hard to develop and keep. Canadian food safety and quality assurance begins on the farm. Consumers expect producers to use approved medicines in approved methods.

How Do You Know You Are Getting the Real McCoy?

Producers have been buying medicines from unlicensed vendors only to discover down the road that they didn't get what they paid for. So called "American bargains" for parasite control turned out to contain much lower concentrations of the active ingredient than products sold in Canada. Instead of being packaged in containers that protect the product from sunlight degradation, the bargains come in clear containers and degrade from exposure to light. Products have been re-packaged and sold as the original medicine, but unfortunately the contents have become contaminated during the basement re-packaging process. Black market medicines are hauled to Ontario in livestock trucks, pickups or trailers, and exposed to the elements with no regard to the label storage directions. All these issues affect the effectiveness of the medicine, withdrawal times, and possible residues and may contribute to drug resistance if not used in the right concentration.

Making Choices

You probably wouldn't buy medicine for your children off the back of a truck, so why buy livestock medicine that way? Your children and other people's children eat what you produce. Maintain high standards of quality assurance for everything you add to your product in the value chain of your commodity.

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