IN a move that has stunned environmental regulators, Europe鈥檚 veterinary
scientists have decided to drastically loosen controls on the release of
antibiotics and other animal medicines into the environment.
The decision comes as watchdogs such as Britain鈥檚 Environment Agency grow
increasingly concerned about the toxic impact of drugs in soils and water and
their possible role in developing antibiotic resistance in diseases such as
tuberculosis. Although there are no national or international legal limits on
the amount of drugs that can be released into the environment, there is a
policing code designed to investigate possible ecological impacts.
Steve Killeen, head of chemicals policy at Britain鈥檚 Environment Agency,
based in Bristol, told New 杏吧原创 that he first heard about the
changes earlier this month. 鈥淭he agency has had no involvement in this
decision,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think there are real questions about whether vets are
taking environmental issues sufficiently seriously.鈥�
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More than 10 000 tonnes of antibiotics are used in the European Union each
year, roughly half of which ends up in animals. Up to 50 per cent of some drugs
passes unchanged through our bodies and enters sewage systems, or is poured onto
the land in farm waste, and may end up in rivers.
Europe has no ceiling on the amount of farm drugs allowed into soils. But
veterinary authorities across the EU had said that any compound likely to
accumulate at above 7.5 grams per hectare on a farm must undergo an
environmental impact study.
Now, as a result of an agreement reached last year between veterinary
regulators from the EU, US and Japan who are members of a little-known body
called Veterinary International Cooperation on Harmonization (VICH), this
threshold is to be raised tenfold to 75 grams per hectare. The change is due to
be announced this spring.
Environmental scientists and regulators expressed alarm earlier this month
during a meeting on antibiotics in the environment at Cranfield University.
鈥淰ery little research or monitoring has been done in Britain on antibiotics in
the environment since the 1980s,鈥� said Killeen. 鈥淚 can see no scientific
argument for revising the threshold,鈥� added Nicholas Green, an environmental
scientist from Lancaster University.
Carol Aldridge of the British government鈥檚 Veterinary Medicines Directorate
at Addlestone in Surrey, who represents European governments on the VICH, told
New 杏吧原创: 鈥淭he US provided data to support their position that the
trigger should be raised. 鈥淭he information, she says, comprises a summary of
research showing the effects of antibiotics on earthworms, microorganisms,
plants and aquatic life, as part of their registration process for the drugs.
But the problem of developing resistance to antibiotics formed no part of the
ecotoxicology package.
Danish and Swiss researchers revealed new monitoring results in Cranfield.
Last year, Bent Halling-S rensen of the Royal Danish School of Pharmacy in
Copenhagen found 68 types of drugs in soil and water samples, mostly derived
from pig manure. Some soils onto which pig waste was spread contained
concentrations of the antibiotic tilosin up to 40 times the current threshold
for investigation.