10May 2001

Animal welfare report heralds regulatory reform

Members of the EuropeanParliament have voted for animal welfare by adopting a report, by Irish MEPAvril Doyle, on the Availability of Animal Medicines. This has the potential toprovide real solutions to the welfare problems that costly over-regulation,leading to lack of specific animal medicines, can bring.

Welcoming the almostunprecedented unanimous vote by MEPs, the National Office of Animal Healthwarned that we are still some way from getting the proposals enacted."This is an extremely positive step which reflects similar sentiments fromthe Commission last year. Now we all need to continue to work together toensure this Report moves forward through the Commission, and ultimately, the Councilof Ministers, so that damaging regulations can be reformed" said NOAHdirector Roger Cook.

Rabbits will be among the animalsthat stand to benefit. While kept aspets in huge numbers, being farmed in certain EU Member States they areregarded as food animals. This gives rise to problems for licensing medicinesfor them due to disproportionate cost, but they are not alone. All minorspecies, (basically all animals except for cattle, pigs, poultry, cats anddogs) suffer as the cost of work needed to obtain an authorisation, or even aspecies indication, can be totally out of proportion to the amount of productthat will be sold. The resultingshortage of medicines is bad for the animals. Being sick is bad for the animal. But for farmed minor species, this can bebad for the farmer, and the consumer you need healthy animals to providehealthy and plentiful food.

The Doyle Report calls for two mainsolutions to the problem. Firstly, theextrapolation of MRLs (Maximum Residue Limits) that is, if a medicine isjudged safe for use in an animal whose produce will be eaten, its safety forthe consumer does not need to be re-tested separately for eachindividual species. In addition, theReport recommends the creation of a true Single Market in animal medicines,that is, animals in one Member State have access to a safe, registered andlicensed medicine, so should animals in the other Member States.

The Doyle Report also proposes aspecific solution for horses. These are sporting and companion animals in theUK, but food animals in EU law. Many horse medicines are not used for any otherfood animal species, as they are designed to treat specific problems which thehorse, as an athlete, suffers. TheReport suggests identification of horses by passport, and strict recording ofmedicine use, as the means to allow horses to continue to benefit from theirunique treatments and preventative medicines, while ensuring consumer health isnot jeopardised.

Avril Doyle, herself an animallover, has been fighting this problem since she joined the EuropeanParliament. This is a basic animal welfare issue, she says. Andit has a serious impact on farmers throughout the EU, too. I hope that the European Parliament willmake the right decision on this Report, which proposes concrete solutions. In addition to existing consumer protection,we will also be able to protect the welfare of animals and farmers across theEU. This has been a long-term problemand I am pleased we are on the way to resolving it.

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NOTES TO EDITORS:

1) For further information contact Dr Johan Vanhemelrijck orWills Hughes-Wilson at FEDESA on +32(0)2 543 7560 and +32(0)2 543 7575respectively. For a UK view contact Roger Cook or Alison Glennon at NOAH, on020 367 3131

2) A photoshoot was organised at the European Parliament afterthe vote. Photographs of MEPs with rabbits are available on www.fedesa.be

High quality jpg files of thesephotographs can be downloaded from the website, or are available on requestfrom NOAH.

The photographs show:

Roger Helmer MEP (East Midlands)

Roger Helmer MEP (East Midlands) and Jarka Chloupkova(assistant to Neil Parish MEP)

Avril Doyle MEP and Nirj Deva MEP (South East)

Neil Parish MEP (South West)

Avril Doyle MEP and Neil Parish MEP (South West)

Robert Goodwill MEP (Yorkshire and Humber)

Robert Sturdy MEP (Eastern)

Struan Stevenson MEP (Scotland)

Jo Vanhemelrijck (FEDESA Secretary General) andGhislaine Follet (FEDESA President)

Chris Heaton-Harris MEP (East Midlands) and WillsHughes Wilson (FEDESA Communications Manager)

3) For medicines for food-producing animals, limits are set onhow much residue of the medicine may safely stay in the animal, known as an MRL(Maximum Residue Limit). These areestablished by a thorough testing and certification process coupled with hugesafety margins. The problem currentlyis that many medicines that have been used safely and legally for decades haveto be individually tested and licensed for each individual species to stay on themarket. Although rabbits, goats, etc.,are an important part of agriculture in certain regions, such as Spain,Portugal and Greece, they are a relatively small market in EU terms. And many horse medicines are only used onhorses, making the market even smaller.Given the small size of the markets, the cost of re-licensing incompliance with the regulations cannot be justified by companies. Up to 45% of animal medicine companiesresearch budgets are spent on keeping existing medicines on the market.

4) FEDESA, the European Federation of Animal Health, representsthe animal health industry in Europe.Its membership comprises 15 national associations such as NOAH and 15companies active in the research, development and marketing of veterinarymedicines. FEDESA works towards aEuropean environment where the value of safe and effective animal healthproducts is recognised and where these high-quality products can be developed,registered and provided quickly and economically.

5) The National Office of Animal Health was formed on 1 January1986 to represent the UK companies which research, develop, manufacture andmarket licensed animal health products. The association has 34 corporatemembers and 10 associate members. In 2000 NOAH's members accounted for around95% of the 357 million UK animal health market, with additional valuableexports.