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AgVetLink June 2004: Page 2

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Recent events

Vet workshops

The extensive series of workshops held to discuss PARs, residues, and other issues with veterinarians has finished. The ACVM Group feels the workshop effort was worthwhile and will continue efforts to improve communication e.g. Agvetlinks for veterinarians.

VTA workshop

Attendance at the recent workshop to explain new conditions of registration for vertebrate toxic agent (VTA) products was disappointing. Only three of 18 registrants attended.

However, those who attended brought staff and some regional council representatives. Participants said they had a better understanding of why the conditions are needed by the end of the day. Registrants will now have the opportunity to give their assessment of appropriate conditions for their products from a list provided by the ACVM Group.

AVA conference

ACVM Group veterinarian Jennie Moran presented a well received paper (‘The Importance of Animal Welfare in the Regulatory Process in New Zealand’) to the animal welfare/ ethics stream of the Australian Veterinary Association conference in Canberra in May. Also at the conference, a police profiler presented findings demonstrating the link between animal abuse and human abuse, and said that several high profile crimes in Australia could have been solved earlier if there had been records of the criminals’ history of animal abuse.

Quadrilateral meeting

ACVM Group Director Debbie Morris attended the 13th Annual Food Safety Quadrilateral meeting held in Canada in May. Regulators from Canada, USA, Australia and New Zealand discussed areas of mutual interest and concern.

LEGISLATION

Proposals for Amendments to the ACVM Act

A discussion paper to present proposed amendments to deal with issues that have arisen since the ACVM Act was written, and to deal with operational issues identified during the administration of the ACVM Act was released 24 May 2004 for a sixweek consultation period concluding on 2 July 2004.

The discussion paper, which is available on the NZFSA website, is divided into two parts:

• Part 1 relates to changes in, or clarification of, policy underlying the ACVM Act;

• Part 2 covers amendments of a more technical nature, such as the removal of redundant provisions and the updating of terminology.

Schedule 3 of the ACVM Regulations

It is proposed that products (such as topical veterinary medicine preparations and plant compound adjuvants) covered by Schedule 3 of the ACVM Regulations 2001 be moved to Schedule 2: exempt subject to conditions. Schedule 3 would then be eliminated because notification is costly; and the information, which is of limited value, is readily accessed from other sources. Systems are in place to deal with any possible concerns. Any comments on this proposal should be sent to Maree Zinzley (maree.zinzley@nzfsa.govt.nz).

New products under the ACVM Act

The definition of an agricultural compound under the ACVM Act includes groups of products that were not previously regulated under the Pesticides, Animal Remedies and Fertiliser Acts. Under the transitional provisions of the ACVM Act, such products had three years to be either registered or exempted from registration. The transitional provisions finish on 1 July 2004.

A small working group of ACVM and industry personnel was formed to discuss potential problems with bringing in products under the ACVM Act. A number of actions have resulted from the working group’s discussions, including:

• looking at additional exemption regulations and additions to the GRAS lists via the ACVM Regulations;

• minimising registration requirements such as additions to annex II of the chemistry standard (which indicates no need to provide stability data for the compounds listed);

• model ‘waiver’ applications (with later changes to the standards); and

• short-term registrations.

At this time the most important thing is for potential registrants to get their applications into the ACVM Group prior to 1 July 2004.

INJECTION SITE REQUIREMENTS

As a result of operator safety concerns expressed by vet workshop participants, the ACVM Group has undertaken to look at injection site requirements under the Animal Products Act.