Veterinary Medicine Mobility Act - One Step Left

President Obama is expected to sign it into law.

The American Veterinary Medical Association announced yesterday that the House passed the Veterinary Medicine Mobility Act. This is a significant Bill for all animal owners, as without it, veterinarians are severely limited in what medications they can legally carry with them to your barn. The Senate approved the Bill in January, so all that’s left is for President Obama to sign it into law. He has until December to do so.

Without this Bill made into law, your veterinarian will be limited in the medications he or she can bring to your barn.

One of the main issues surrounded euthanasia. Without this bill signed into law, veterinarians would not be legally able to carry the medications needed to your barn, such as sedatives or euthanasia serum. You would have to transport the horse to a clinic or find another way to euthanize your horse.

Interestingly, many people don’t understand that the law prohibiting veterinarians from carrying these drugs is already in place, having been made a law in 1970. It had simply not been enforced. When that law-enforcement oversight was brought to light, veterinarians everywhere rallied to get an amendment to the 44-year-old law.

For more information on the significance of this Bill to horse owners (and all animal owners), read Grant Miller DVM’s article here.

You can also read editor Cindy Foley’s article about the importance of the Bill here.

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