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AgVetLink August 2004: Page 11

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Because ACVM ‘risks’ affect aspects of all areas of NZFSA responsibility, the ACVM Group provides input for the Animal Products Group, Dairy and Plant Products Group etc.

Amendment needed

The ACVM Act was designed specifically to manage products by placing controls on import, manufacture, sale and/or use. The ACVM Group assesses and regulates agricultural compounds under this Act.

However, because the ACVM Act was written to ‘cover’ outcomes for primary produce under MAF and the requirements have expanded greatly since the NZFSA was created, the ACVM Act has to be amended to provide for the additional areas of responsibility.

ACVM Group and ERMA New Zealand

Recent submissions on proposed amendments to the ACVM legislation have asked why the ACVM Group and ERMA New Zealand are ‘doing the same job’ in public health. To understand the function of the two organisations, it is important to look at the purpose of the legislation they administer – the ACVM Act and the HSNO Act.

When looking at the list of risks covered by the ACVM Act, risks to human health and the environment are not there.

These are covered by the HSNO Act.

The purpose of the HSNO Act is to protect the environment and the health and safety of people by preventing or managing the non-food adverse effects of hazardous substances and new organisms.

This ‘non-food’ qualifier in the HSNO Act explains why the ACVM Act and the ACVM Group must be involved.

The two organisations are not doing the same job in public health – they deal with different aspects. The ACVM Group is concerned with the food aspects and ERMA New Zealand is concerned with non-food aspects.

Overlaps

Inevitably, though, there are overlaps.

In such a case, the HSNO Act controls are preconditions to the ACVM Act controls. In other words, if an agricultural compound is also a hazardous substance, it must be approved by ERMA New Zealand before it can be registered by the ACVM Group. The ACVM Act process is additive to the HSNO Act process.

The two organisations need a close working relationship to avoid unnecessary duplication of requirements, extra compliance costs etc. They work together whenever possible.

Other agencies

Many other government agencies, such as the Ministry of Health and Ministry for the Environment, also have responsibilities in the public health area.

Risks managed by the ACVM Act affect some of these aspects of public health as well, e.g. prescription medicines used as veterinary medicines require the prior approval of the Ministry of Health for public health reasons.

The ACVM Group ‘sits in the middle’, ensuring its work is consistent with outcomes required of NZFSA while at the same time not conflicting with outcomes required of these other government agencies. The Group has to ensure that ACVM risk areas are managed in all the relevant areas so that the outcomes and standards set under the entire NZFSA legislative regime or by international agreements are not compromised.

 

Liaison with veterinarians

ACVM Group veterinarian Jennie Moran has represented the Group at recent national and international meetings to liaise with veterinarians.

• In May she gave a presentation on ‘Animal Welfare and Its Relevance to the ACVM Regulatory Process’ at the Australian Veterinary Association Conference Ethics Stream, Brisbane.

• Also in May Jennie was invited to the Companion Animal Society of the New Zealand Veterinary Associaiton Board Meeting, Wellington, to discuss companion animal veterinarian obligations. This discussion was to clarify and expand on some of the topics discussed at the ACVM workshops for veterinarians.

• In June she attended the combined NAEAC/NAWAC meeting, Christchurch, to give a presentation regarding the ACVM Standard for Prescription Animal Remedy Veterinary Medicines. The ACVM Group was invited to make the presentation as a follow-up to a presentation made at an earlier meeting by NZVA CEO Murray Gibb on the same issue.