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AgVetLink June 2003

SPECIAL ISSUE FOR VETERINARIANS

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Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Foods

Bill Jolly (Veterinary Counsellor, Brussels) and John Reeve (Programme Manager, Toxicology and Residues, ACVM Group) were the New Zealand delegates at the 14th meeting of the Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Foods (CCRVDF), held in Washington DC from 3-7 March 2003.

Residues monitoring

At the 13th CCRVDF meeting, New Zealand had been accepted as the lead country in the development of a revised Codex guideline covering residue monitoring and control. The paper, developed with valuable contributions from other assisting countries, was presented at the 14th meeting, and was accepted as the basis for proceeding with the development of the revised guideline.

The paper contains new paradigms for the Codex system, and seeks to introduce the concept of proper risk management rather than the currently accepted practice of taking precipitate action on any shipment that contains residues above the Codex limits.

This is particularly important for substances for which no Codex maximum residue limit (MRL) has been set, where the current situation assumes that any detectable residue is unacceptable whether there is any risk to human health or not.

The acceptance of the paper by the 14th Committee means that any opposition can change the guideline only if scientific evidence supports such a move.

Antimicrobial resistance

There was plenty of discussion on the draft code of practice to minimise and contain antimicrobial resistance that was presented to the Committee by the US. Many of the disagreements in the positions of the delegations arose because of the lack of a glossary, and the different perspectives of the delegations as to exactly what was being referred to when the term ‘antimicrobial’ was used. Most of the time the delegates were commenting only on antibiotics, and not anticoccidia and antifungal treatments, for example.

It was clear that a glossary had to be developed before useful comment could be made, and so the paper is to be recirculated as currently drafted, with a comment deadline of 30 June 2003. The drafting group will then prepare a revised version of the proposed draft code by the end of 2003 for circulation to all Codex countries, so that it and the subsequent comments can be considered at the 15th session of the Committee (tentatively scheduled for September 2004).

Substances advanced

Substances with residue limits advanced to step 8 Codex MRLs were clenbuterol (when used for approved therapeutic purposes only) and deltamethrin. (Ivermectin in milk was also recommended for adoption as a full Codex MRL.) A limit for dihydrostreptomycin and streptomycin in sheep milk was advanced to step 5/8, and a limit for cefuroxime in cattle milk was advanced to step 5.

 

Fibrosarcomas at injection sites of cats

The European Medicines Evaluation Agency (EMEA) Committee for Veterinary Medicinal Products has issued an advisory notice on the development of fibrosarcomas in cats following subcutaneous injection.

This states it is not possible to make firm conclusions on the risk associated with any product or type of product that causes inflam-mation after subcu-taneous injection in cats.

However, it advises that there may be an increased risk of fibrosarcoma at that site and that, if more specific information becomes available, this has the potential to impact on regulatory information require-ments and risk assessments.

A copy of this report may be viewed on the EMEA website (www.emea.eu.int/pdfs/vet/press/pos/020503en.pdf).

 

Recent events...

• The final report from the United Kingdom Competition Commis-sion on Veterinary Medicines was released on 11 April 2003.
  The full report and the summary are available on their website (http://www.competition-commission.org.uk/inquiries/archive.htm).
• The draft review report from the Australian Pesticide and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) on Virginiamycin was released in March 2003.
  See their website (http://www.apvma.gov.au/) for details.
• A full summary of submissions received during consultation on the draft Policy for the Regulatory Control of Prescription Animal Remedies is available on the ACVM website (http://www.nzfsa.govt.nz/acvm/archive/draft/policies/index.htm).