Diclofenac in europe

Diclofanac has been banned on the Indian sub-continent because of its use in domestic cattle that has been proven to kill vultures who eat the carcasses of cattle etc that feed off of dead livestock.

In the UK and Europe it is used quite often to treat severe muscular pain and in the treatment of cancer pain symptoms.

It is quite unfortunate that it has such severe side effects in nature but has very positive results in those suffering from debilitating and life reducing illness.

I'm not totally sure of Roys previous post on this issue but am concerned that a drug that can relieve suffering and pain, that is not used as indescrimantely, in the UK as is in the Indian subcontinent should be banned. Yes its use should be controlled but it has a very positive role to play in the palliative care of certain patients.

lmac

The way I understand it, "The Issue" is whether diclofenac should be licensed in Europe for veterinary purposes, which is a recent development - see this blog and its links.  

Granted, the European use of the drug might initially be a positive one, however there are always those who will exploit an opportunity for their own use. Hopefully the initial post will provoke some interest in the subject matter and (more) informed conclusions may be drawn.

Hi all, thanks for the rapid responses. Yes, the issue is the veterinary licensing of the drug, not the human medical use. In particular its use in Spain, which is the stronghold of vultures in Europe and one of the countries which has applied for its use in farm animals. The Commission reply to my letter stated that they felt that since dead farm animals have to be disposed of quickly under EU law, there would not be an issue. However I feel that in the remoter areas of Spain it may be several days before the carcase of a treated animal is removed and that would allow time for vultures to get at it and die of kidney failure. It seems crazy to take the risk given what happened in India. I have found no clear account of the veterinary benefits in cattle.

Hi folks,

Great to see so many people concerned about this. To find out what we've been doing, and what else you can do to help, I caught up with Sacha Cleminson (Head of International Biodiversity Policy) who's been working on diclofenac in Europe. Here's what he had to say:

Roy is dead right, it is essential that the issue is put (back) on the radar of new and returning MEPs. This is particularly the case as we’re expecting a new set of European Commissioners to take office this autumn. It is in the power of Commissioners to ban veterinary diclofenac, and there are actions we can take. Options that have the potential to have an impact include:

1. Sign the Petition at: www.change.org/.../janez-poto%C4%8Dnik-european-union-diclofenac-the-vulture-killing-drug-is-now-available-on-eu-market-ban-it-now
2. Write to MEPs to ask them to, in order of priority:
   1. Write to the new European Commissioners for Health and Environment when they are appointed.
   2. Raise the issue in the European Parliamentary ‘hearings’ for the new Health and Environment Commissioners. Hearings are currently scheduled for 22-30 September.
   3. Table multiple Parliamentary Questions to the European Commission. Ideally we would have questions from different political parties and from different Member States.
3. Write to Members of the UK (or devolved) Parliament asking them to raise the issue with the Government.
4. As Roy says above, table a Petition in the European Parliament. This does not need to have lots of signatures (unlike the Change.org one above), it just needs several MEPs to make an issue of it in the Parliament. So the energy for this one needs to go into getting those MEPs active, not in getting more signatures. Jude Kirton-Darling North East, Dan Hannan South East, and Tim Aker Eastern England are all on the Petitions Committee, and if you make it clear your're writing to them in that role, there shouldn't be a problem in writing to them even if they're not your constituency MEP.

We are working very closely with our Spanish and Italian BirdLife Partners, doing everything we can to head off a repeat of the vulture decline in India, and also with the Partners in the other 26 Member States. And of course we're keeping in touch with the Vulture Conservation Foundation. Their blog (linked to by monkeycheese above) provides some good background on the problem, as does the introduction to the Change.org petition, which you might find useful for writing to your MEP or MP.

Because the drug has already been approved for use in Spain and Italy we’re fighting an uphill battle, so we’ll be in this one for the long-haul – every letter will help, especially once we find out who the new Commissioners are in the Autumn.

Thanks for all your support, and if you've got 10 minutes, do write to your MEPs - you can find out who they are at https://www.writetothem.com/.

Steph

Good news on this topic. According to British Birds (November 2014, p666) the EU Commission has now asked the European Medicines Agency to review the risk to European vulture populations of the veterinary use of Diclofenac.  

I wrote to the company which makes and sells the drug in Europe (FATRO, based in Italy) asking them politely why they sold it here in light of the risks. No reply or acknowledgement to date.

Roy

I’ve now had a reply from the European Parliament Commission on Petitions, responding to mine about veterinary Diclofenac. The upshot is that while they will not ban veterinary use of Diclofenac in Europe, they now require member states to monitor potential impacts on necrophagous birds (lovely phrase to work into conversation…),. I guess the next step for to work with partner  organisations in EU countries with vultures to make sure this is implemented effectively, and to make sure any impact is identified and responded to appropriately.

Here are two posts with the details of the judgement.

and the last one