Delhi High Court Orders Police Action Against Oxytocin Use

Context

The Delhi High Court ordered State authorities to take action against the use of oxytocin on cattle in dairy colonies in the Capital. 

• Petition Against Dairies: The court’s order came after a petition appealed to authorities to look into the state of dairies in the Capital.
• Rampant use of Oxytocin: In March 2023, the High Court had constituted a court commissioner for inspecting nine dairy colonies in the Capital. The court commissioner flagged the “rampant use” of oxytocin.
  • The court commissioner stated that the conditions in all the nine designated dairy colonies in Delhi were bad.

Delhi High Court Ruling

Administering of oxytocin amounts to animal cruelty and is a cognisable offense under Section 12 of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.

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• Weekly Inspections and Legal Action: The court asked the Delhi government’s Department of Drugs Control to conduct weekly inspections and register cases against the administration of the hormone. 
• Source Tracing: It asked the Delhi police to identify the sources of oxytocin production, packaging and distribution, and take action in accordance with the law.

Oxytocin

Also known as the ‘love hormone’, Oxytocin is secreted by the pituitary glands of mammals during sex, childbirth, lactation or social bonding. It could be chemically manufactured and sold by pharma companies for use during childbirth. It is administered either as an injection or a nasal solution.

• Role: Oxytocin plays a key role in both the female and male reproductive systems. This includes increasing contractions to induce labor and birth, and the release of milk from the breast after birth.
  • It also acts as a chemical messenger in the brain and influences important elements of human behavior such as social recognition, relationship formation and long-term emotional attachment.
• Significance: Its use is crucial to prevent new mothers from excessively bleeding after giving birth—a common cause of maternal deaths. 
  • According to an India sample registration scheme survey conducted in 2001-2003, postpartum hemorrhage accounted for 38 percent of maternal deaths.
• Concerns Associated: 
  • Misuse of oxytocin: It is being used illegally to increase milk production in dairy animals which are forced to produce milk through painful procedures and can become infertile with long-term use.
  • Health Impact:  Its overuse on milch cattle to improve production harms not only the cattle’s health but also the health of humans consuming  the milk.
    • There are concerns that milk from oxytocin-treated animals may contain residues of the hormone that could potentially have negative health impacts on human consumers. 

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