Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Are cattles and vultures more important than humans' that was published in Newsband

Are cattles and vultures more important than humans

The Union Health Ministry’s ban on the retail sale and private manufacture of oxytocin will have severe public health consequences. The drug, a synthetic version of a human hormone, is a life-saver for women. Doctors use it to induce labour in pregnant women and to stem postpartum bleeding. The World Health Organization recommends it as the drug of choice in postpartum hemorrhage. The government’s ban ignores this because of the misuse of the hormone in the dairy industry to increase milk production.

But the right approach would have been to strengthen regulation, and crack down on illegal production. Yes, there are ill-effects of oxytocin on cattle. But aren’t humans more important than cattle. In much of rural India, more people still die due to a lack of antibiotics than due to antibiotic-resistance. The decision to ban the production and use Private Pharma & sale by retail chemists is a historic blunder by the Government of India. Human life deserves more empathy than the cattle.

Banning an important drug is not the answer for misuse of the drug. Proper monitoring system should be put in place to curb illegal use and misuse of the drug by miscreants

Oxytocin is hormone which is secreted from the posterior lobe of pituitary gland situated in the brain, which plays pivotal role for the body. No doubt, its synthetic preparation using recombinant technology brought its flooded in the market for its misuse in the diary form by way of injecting this synthetic hormone to the cattles for more yield of milk. Also it is evident that this has been used in agro produce by the farmers, which may pose threat to consumers. This precious synthetic hormone plays very important role for pregnant women at the time of labour of delivery of child. So banning this synthetic hormone is not appropriate, but its supply should be restricted and given strictly on prescription by the medicos and veterinary doctors who should use it rightly and in ethical and accountable manner and just avoid its wrong use.

The amount of misuse of this drug is cause for the ban. Also, the carcasses of cattle infused with this drug eaten by vultures had caused drop of the vulture population. But are cattle and vultures more important than the humans?

Government should make exact surveillance on illegal unlisenced companies that manufacture oxytocin rather than ban entire production across the country. Just because it has been misused in the dairy industry it cannot be banned. Instead the manufacturing and supply should be regulated by government taking the entire control on supply and use it for constructive purpose. But the reason that it creates infertility to cattle is of serious concern and usage of it in dairy industry should be reduced to the core.