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Concerns with Oxytocin Ban

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August 02, 2018

What is the issue?

  • The Union Health Ministry has recently decided to restrict the production and sale of oxytocin. Click here to know more
  • The rationale of the decision is contested and the ban is expected to have severe public health consequences.

What is the key reason?

  • The ban is primarily motivated by the misuse of the hormone in the dairy industry.
  • Oxytocin stimulates lactation in cattle.
  • Dairy farmers thus inject the drug indiscriminately to increase milk production.
  • This has increased the unlicensed facilities that are manufacturing the drug for veterinary use.
  • There is also a concern that oxytocin led to infertility in dairy animals.
  • It has also been linked to mastitis, a painful inflammation of the udder (mammary gland).
  • Another concern is the exposure of milk consumers to oxytocin drug through dairy products.

Why is oxytocin crucial?

  • Nearly 45,000 Indian women die due to causes related to childbirth each year.
  • Oxytocin, a synthetic version of a human hormone, is a life-saver for these women.
  • It is used to induce labour in pregnant women and to stall postpartum bleeding.
  • The World Health Organization recommends it as the drug of choice in postpartum haemorrhage.
  • The ban thus seems to be ignoring this critical role of oxytocin in maternal health.

What are the contentions?

  • Validity - There are some studies that add validity to the above concerns of ill-effects of oxytocin on cattle.
  • However, the science behind these claims is unclear and is not properly established.
  • The National Dairy Research Institute has said that there was no evidence that oxytocin led to infertility.
  • Another research claims that oxytocin content in buffalo milk did not alter with injections.
  • However, even if the ill-effects of oxytocin are real, a ban is not the right solution.
  • Shortage - Manufacture of the drug only by a single public sector unit could lead to drug shortages and price hikes.
  • The right approach would have been to strengthen regulation and crack down on illegal production.
  • Monopolising production will only remove the low-price options from the market.

 

Source: The Hindu

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