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Published in the Veterinary Record 2nd January 99 -144(1):27-28

EU Ban on four antibiotic feed additives

Dear Sir,

It is with great concern that we learned of the decision of the European Commission 
(supported by the UK government) to ban the use of Zinc Bacitracin,  Virginiamycin 
Tylosin and Spiramycin as digestive enhancers as from January 1st 1999.
  

We understand that this decision is based on "the precautionary principle" - i.e. that 
a hazard as been identified and that there is insufficient scientific information to quantify
the risk. This is in spite of a recent report form the EU's own Standing Committee on Animal
Nutrition reviewing all recent data on one of these products and concluding that there
is no scientific basis for such a suspension.


 Apart from any welfare implications of the loss of availability of these products, the 
economic impact on the poultry industry will be considerable. The net effect of the 
loss of all digestive enhancers would be to raise the live-weight bird production cost
by 10-15% which is approximately 5 times the expected level of profitability for the poultry 
industry even in a good economic climate.
For the poultry industry this will be a huge blow to their ability to compete with imported 
products and will result in a large loss of jobs in processing and farming.

For the consumer there will be no obvious change. The meat they eat will still probably have
been produced using the banned products which will still be available elsewhere in the
world, production will simply have moved outside the EU.

For the birds concerned. We are members of the veterinary profession with responsibility
for the care of these animals. We have, with the support of the industry made great strides
in improving standards of animal welfare on farms. We would question whether the ethos
of animal welfare runs so strongly in the regions of the world where this proposal will lead
our poultry meat to be produced.

 In our judgement, this principle could equally be invoked to suspend the license of almost
any antimicrobial used in animals, with obvious severe consequences for animal health and
welfare, as well as the agricultural economy. 

The entire justification for this ban revolves around concerns over the potential development
of resistant bacteria in animals treated with the digestive enhancers concerned and the
subsequent transmission of these bacteria to humans. However, such a ban is in our opinion
totally ineffective unless it is the intention to implement a concurrent ban on meat imported
from countries which still allow the use of the digestive enhancers concerned.
    

Yours sincerely



P.W.Cargill.  Bvet Med. Cert PMP. MRCVS
Hon Secretary. BVPA .

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