22February 2001

Take the best from organic and conventional farming says NOAH

Good husbandry and sound scienceshould be the cornerstones of livestock farming, says NOAH. And these areequally applicable to organic and conventional farming.

In a letter to UKROFS, thegovernment organic standards body, NOAH proposes that the two organisations canwork more closely together to progress these aims. Welcoming the publication ofthe Agriculture Committee Report on Organic Farming, NOAH says that governmentresearch into organic farming, as suggested by the Report, should be based onscience as is the authorisation system for animal medicines in UK and acrossEurope.

Sometimes animal health and welfarecan only be maintained by preventive medicine, or by treatment. This is a clearcase where organic farming can and should benefit from techniques equallyapplicable to this system and conventional agriculture.

Of course animal medicines must beused responsibly again this is equally applicable to conventional farming as consumers need to have confidence in food from livestock. Cross industryinitiatives such as RUMA (Responsible Use of Animal Medicines) and LEAF(Linking Environment and Farming) underscore this belief.

But different organic codes on animalmedicine use confuse farmers and consumers, while their underlying basis forcalculations of different withdrawal periods, and the push to use products thathave not gone through stringent approval systems, are scientifically unsound.

The Agriculture Report aims to putorganic farming on a more scientific basis and NOAH supports this aim.

Ends

Notes for Editors

1. Forfurther information please contact Roger Cook or Alison Glennon, 020 8367 3131,or visit the NOAH website, www.noah.co.uk.

2. TheNational Office of Animal Health was formed on 1 January 1986 to represent theUK companies which research, develop, manufacture and market licensed animalhealth products. The association has 35 corporate members and 11 associatemembers. In 1999 NOAH's members accounted for around 95% of the 366 million UKanimal health market, with additional valuable exports.