Department Report Confirms Responsible Use of Veterinary Medicines by Farmers

Reacting to the publication of residue monitoring results by the Department of Agriculture, IFA Animal Health Chairman Bert Stewart said the findings confirm the responsible use by farmers of veterinary medicines in the treatment of their animals.
Bert Stewart said, “Veterinary medicines are a vital animal health and welfare tool and represent an enormous annual input cost for farmers. The new EU veterinary medicine proposals currently being discussed must take into account the level of farmer compliance with medicine usage and the importance of availability of competitively-priced products for famers”.
The IFA Chairman said the new proposals provide a real opportunity to increase the availability of veterinary medicines for farmers and to reduce the cost by adopting a single EU licensing structure which allows veterinary medicine products operate under the principles of the common market. “The current licensing laws have the ridiculous situation that similar products are licensed in individual member states and yet cannot be freely purchased by farmers across national boundaries unless specifically labelled.”
Bert Stewart said under a single licensing approach, national competent authorities can still maintain control over products that would be permitted for use in the country.
The IFA chairman said the Minister for Agriculture and our MEPs must ensure the new EU Veterinary Medicine proposals deliver real benefits for farmers through increased availability of veterinary medicines, reduced product cost and administrative burden while protecting all our current supply routes.