California Enacts Strictest Animal Antibiotic Law in the U.S.
It's a big step toward limiting antibiotic use in livestock—and the meat industry didn't even fight back.
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California just passed a bill to sharply limit the use of antibiotics in farm animals, making it the first state to ban the routine use of the drugs in animal agriculture.
Signed by Governor Jerry Brown on Saturday, the law bans the use of medically important antibiotics to promote growth in cows, chickens, pigs, and other animals raised for profit. Meat producers will only be able to administer the drugs with the approval of a veterinarian when animals are sick, or to prevent infections when there's an "elevated risk." They can't use the drugs "in a regular pattern." The policy is more restrictive than the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's national guidelines, which don't restrict use for disease prevention.