Animal welfare report heralds regulatory reform

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

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

Rabbits will be among the animals that stand to benefit. While kept as pets in huge numbers, being farmed in certain EU Member States they are regarded as food animals. This gives rise to problems for licensing medicines for them due to disproportionate cost, but they are not alone. All minor species, (basically all animals except for cattle, pigs, poultry, cats and dogs) suffer as the cost of work needed to obtain an authorisation, or even a species indication, can be totally out of proportion to the amount of product that will be sold. The resulting shortage of medicines is bad for the animals. Being sick is bad for the animal. But for farmed minor species, this can be bad for the farmer, and the consumer - you need healthy animals to provide healthy and plentiful food.

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

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

Avril Doyle, herself an animal lover, has been fighting this problem since she joined the European Parliament. "This is a basic animal welfare issue," she says. "And it has a serious impact on farmers throughout the EU, too. I hope that the European Parliament will make 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 the EU. This has been a long-term problem and I am pleased we are on the way to resolving it."

10 May 2001

Notes for Editors

1. For further information contact Dr Johan Vanhemelrijck or Wills Hughes-Wilson at FEDESA on +32(0)2 543 7560 and +32(0)2 543 7575 respectively. For a UK view contact Roger Cook or Alison Glennon at NOAH, on 020 8367 3131
   
2. A photoshoot was organised at the European Parliament after the vote. Photographs of MEPs with rabbits are available on www.fedesa.be

   High quality jpg files of these photographs can be downloaded from the website, or are available on request from 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) and Ghislaine Follet (FEDESA President)
   • Chris Heaton-Harris MEP (East Midlands) and Wills Hughes Wilson (FEDESA Communications Manager)
3. For medicines for food-producing animals, limits are set on how much residue of the medicine may safely stay in the animal, known as an MRL (Maximum Residue Limit). These are established by a thorough testing and certification process coupled with huge safety margins. The problem currently is that many medicines that have been used safely and legally for decades have to be individually tested and licensed for each individual species to stay on the market. 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 on horses, making the market even smaller. Given the small size of the markets, the cost of re-licensing in compliance with the regulations cannot be justified by companies. Up to 45% of animal medicine companies' research budgets are spent on keeping existing medicines on the market.
   
4. FEDESA, the European Federation of Animal Health, represents the animal health industry in Europe. Its membership comprises 15 national associations such as NOAH and 15 companies active in the research, development and marketing of veterinary medicines. FEDESA works towards a European environment where the value of safe and effective animal health products 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 January 1986 to represent the UK companies which research, develop, manufacture and market licensed animal health products. The association has 35 corporate members and 10 associate members. In 2000 NOAH's members accounted for around 95% of the £357 million UK animal health market, with additional valuable exports.